Evangelion: Age of Marvels
by Chuckman
Summary: In a time before time, the ones who made us cast judgement upon Man, making our cradle our prison. Beset from all sides by sinister forces that crave suffering and domination, humanity is on its own, save for a path to salvation left behind by forces unknown, and the last gift of a long-lost race of gods, a key for earth's mightiest heroes to unlock the sky... if they be worthy.
1. Secret Origins, Part 1

_When I was born, airplanes were made of wood and cloth, and superpowers were something for movie serials and cheap pulp novels. I've watched a man land on the Moon, and covered the presidencies of Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and now Nixon as a reporter__…__ I saw Galactus with my own eyes. If I had to sum up my life in one sentence, it would be "I was there for the trial of Peter Parker." _

_I remember when he took the stand. The prosecutor was sure his moment had come, that he would make his case for the state and secure his victory. He launched into a tirade that drew numerous objections from Matthew Murdock, Parker's lawyer. His question was ultimately boiled down to a simple one. What gives you the right? Who decided that you, Peter Parker, are above the law? _

_Peter looked at him, looked right at him and gave his answer. He never looked at the jury once. _

"_I've been Spider-Man since I was fourteen years old. When I first discovered my powers, the first thing I did was go out and try to make a quick buck. I had a chance to a stop a criminal- not a mastermind in a robot suit or an alien, just a man with a ski mask and a gun. I did nothing. It wasn't my problem. _

"_Because I didn't stop that man, he later met and shot my uncle. He was the first person to die because of me, because I made the wrong choice, or because I wasn't fast enough or smart enough. He wasn't the last. My uncle lived a simple life of clear principles, and it wasn't until he was gone that I realized what he was trying to teach me, not through speeches or rhetoric, but the way he lived his life. A man has responsibilities. With power comes responsibility. _

"_I don't have the right, sir. No one made me put on a mask, no one paid me or trained me. I did what I did because I could, because one more pair of eyes and hands out there might save some lives. _

"_There hasn't been a night of my life since Gwen Stacy died that I haven't wished that spider never came near me." _

_Peter Parker tried to teach us his uncle's lesson, by living. I only wish we'd listened. I know I didn't. Not until it was too late. I spent ten year of my life calling this man a criminal, a thief and worse. While I was accusing him of crimes he didn't commit, he was out saving people. He risked his life, his health, and his own future every night. From 1962 to 1973, Spider-Man saved over five thousand people from certain death, more than one per day, not counting the numerous times he participated in saving the entire city, even the world. _

_That one fourteen year old boy had more responsibility than an army of politicians and generals and great leaders. We need more Peter Parkers, not less. _

-J. Jonah Jameson, _The Trial of Peter Parker_, 1975

**Outside Qumran**

**68 A.D.**

Had they wished to give chase, truly they would have needed only the blood. His sandals broke down after a mile of running through the valley between the outcroppings, and propelled by his faith he ran until his feet bled and there was a trail of crimson tracks drying to iron that lay behind him, marking his way. Clutched under one arm was an earthen jar more valuable than all the gold in the world, for within it laid the secrets of God.

Every breath was a lance through his chest; every step sent a jolt of sharp pain up his legs. He ran without heed, for the body was illusion. The truth was known to a very few, who understood that all men were luminous beings, not the shells of crude matter they inhabited, and it was to the great mother, the true godhead they would return at the end of days. His name meant "Who is like God?" in the way of Hebrew neighbors, but he and his kin knew the truth. The answer was everyone.

It was not far to the cave. The Roman oppressors had set fire to the camp when the elders refused to divulge their secrets, refused to recant their faith and bow to the Roman emperor and his deities. It was to him and to him alone that fell the task of bearing the ancient font of wisdom into the desert where it would remain hidden until those of knowledge and worth would come to find it. The truth would endure and live forever, and when the Messengers came, the word of the hidden scrolls would carry all mankind into union with the Godhead. This he believed and this was why he ran when his legs screamed at him and his back was a map of fresh pains, because the body was illusion and when he buried the secret knowledge he would die knowing he would rise again and find peace in the bosom of the holy mother.

The cave was not far. He had made the journey many times, bearing the more common scrolls to be hidden, the commentary and explanation of the holy device that had brought the sect to wisdom, the gift of Those Who Came Before, the First Ancestors. The ways of his sect were secret and alien, an spoke of other worlds, other Earths with other men on them, strange and alien beings who were as kin to mankind, but where men bore within them the fruit of wisdom earned by eating of the sacred fruit of the tree of knowledge, the brothers beyond the stars ate of the tree of life and so gained immortal perfection, but without choice. Such was the way of things.

Earth, Earth alone had been blessed with a path back to the true form of mankind and the return to the true Goddess who spawned us.

This a man named Mika'el, or Michael, knew as he ran through the desert, dragging behind him an irregular path of bloody markers drying in the sun. Far behind him the camp where his brethren studied the alien device was put to the torch. The supplicants linked arms and marched defenseless into a line of Roman legionaries and were cut down by the short blade called the _gladius hispaniensis, _or struck down by the thrown spear called a _pilum_, a wicked weapon with a shaft half made of soft metal, designed to bend and fix itself in its target. When the sands were stained in a permanent sunset the tents and the remaining scrolls and all evidence that the cult that had ever existed were burned, and after three days the centurions bade the Legion turn the earth and salt it so that no trace of its existence would remain.

So Michael ran.

It was growing dark and he could see the column of smoke rising behind him, and admonished himself with the story of Lot when he glanced over his shoulder and nearly fell. Stumbling, he felt the energy draining from him as his concentration shattered. He slowed, breathing hard, a sheen of sweat gluing his white garments to his body. It truly was not far now and he began the descent to the most secret cave, distant from the others where the truth had been secured. He counted the steps down the carven path in the rock until he found the turn that led between two tightly placed rocks that forced him to turn and wriggle between them, and from there he walked, stinging bloodied feet clinging to the sand with each step.

The cave lay at the end of a narrow gulley, barely visible from above. He had to duck the low lintel as he passed inside, and his foot hooked on a stone. The clay jar dropped from his hands and shattered, and Michael wept. The Secret Scrolls were revealed.

Harsh ochre light filled the cavern. The Secret Scrolls were not of parchment or papyrus or the scraped skin of a sheep or goat, they were a cube, a cube that seemed to be made out of light itself. To stare into its surface was to see an infinity of tiny, incomprehensible symbols layered on one another, intersecting in all directions. A tiny shift in perspective revealed yet new truths.

Michael picked it up and used its light to illumine the cavern, and pulled the wooden spar by the door. It slipped out of its carved channel and there was a clattering of rock as the front of the cave was buried, sealing him in. He held the Scrolls carefully in both hands and walked deeper into the cave. At the rear, on shelves that had been built when his grandfather was too young to walk, the jars with the written exegesis of the material stored within the cube waited. Michael sat down in front of them, folding his legs, and meditated on the foolishness of the world and the way earthly hungers distract us from the Divine.

He died three days later of thirst, without moving.

God came to take him in the form of a girl in white, her skin pale like the finest marble. Her crimson eyes regarded him and there was something sad in them, and he died alone with his God.

Almost.

I too, was there. Observing. Cataloging. Ensuring that nothing that transpired would ever be forgotten.

I am Uatu. I am the Watcher.

* * *

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

"**Secret Origins, Part 1"**

* * *

**Outside Qumran**

**May 1, 1945 A.D. **

Lorenz Kihl daubed the sweat from his face with one of several handkerchiefs kept for that task, piled around the reader in front of him. A device of his own design lay before him, illuminating a fragmentary scrap of scroll from beneath, making it easier for him to pick out the fine, almost invisible letters, ghosts left where ink once dried. He rapped his fingers on the scuffed surface of his desk unconsciously as his left hand recorded possible transliterations of what he struggled to read. He wrote with a fountain pen, stopping to wet the nib and blot before beginning the next line. He was steeped in old things, and preferred the elegance of tools and techniques long refined over new and untested technologies. He had a tall stack of notes, ready to be typed out.

The flap to the tent opened, and the still, stifling air inside exchanged with the restless, stifling air outside.

"Lorenz?"

He looked up. Maria stepped into the tent. Something was wrong. Her upper lib had been bloodied and her hair was askew. He reached under the table to where he kept a Walther resting atop a stack of papers and closed his fingers around the grip. Maria took a few steps into the room and stumbled to the ground. Death followed her.

Johann Schmidt. Kihl's bowels turned to jelly and he fought a momentary, flickering inner war over whether to draw the pistol and shoot or put it back down. Schmidt scanned the room, his unblinking, bloodshot eyes taking in everything. Maria lay on the floor weeping, her dark hair spilled around her face. Kihl heard other men shuffling outside, and caught glimpses of dust-weary boots under the edge of the tent. Schmidt's hand rested on an entirely unnecessary sidearm. Taller than any man had a right to be, his presence filled the tent like some demon of old. Despite his heavy leather coat, buttoned to his chin, he did not sweat. He had no skin to sweat with.

The Red Skull spoke.

"Herr Kihl," he said, disdainfully looking over the desk and the notes, "At last we meet."

Kihl moved his hand away from the gun and rested it on his knee where Schmidt could see it.

"A wise move, Herr Professor Doktor. You would have been dead before you fired a shot, and your Jewess with you."

Kihl tensed. "I don't know what you mean. Maria Schneider-"

"Is not Maria Schneider, she is Madalena Schuller, or she used to be before your former research assistant disappeared from the face of the Earth and you took on a new student. It must have been expensive."

"It was," said Kihl.

Schmidt sneered. It was a sight to see, his flat, almost lipless mouth pulling away from teeth too bright against his crimson lips. His entire head was a livid sore, ridged with veins, his eyes sunken deep into his sockets, his flesh pulled so tight he looked like a dead man. Kihl recalled the words of an American poet.

…_and the Red Death held sway over all._

"You have not been listening to your radio," said Schmidt. "Have you not been following the progress of the war?"

Kihl stared at him flatly, as if he could will him to leave the tent. "No. I am a scientist, not a soldier. The war is not my concern."

"The war is everyone's concern," said Schmidt, touching the papers on the table with his glove hands.

Maria slithered away from him, curling up against one of the reading benches. Kihl shot her a knowing glance and spread his fingers.

The Red Skull did not see the gesture, or gave no sign that he did, at any rate. "Hitler's war is over."

"I don't understand."

"The Allies have not yet announced the news," said Schmidt, "but the Fuhrer took his life a few hours ago, in his private bunker in Berlin. The war is over, Herr Professor Doktor."

"What do you want with me?"

Schmidt stood up. "We both know your operation here was at the pleasure of the fuhrer. No doubt you have been running on the proverbial fumes, spending your last few meager funds to keep going while the war turned away from you. All of the Fuhrer's other foolish extravagances in search of Hebrew artifacts have proven fruitless and were long abandoned. All except this one."

"I am a scholar. I am studying Essene holy texts, nothing more."

"An amusing lie," said Schmidt, "and clearly transparent. You received funding until '44, when you were cut off. The Third Reich was being strangled from every direction, sending out unarmed tanks crewed by green boys while old men held the capital and the Fuhrer screamed at phantom armies, like a child playing at war on a map with his schoolmates. You and you alone were given the means to pursue this research during that time. Someone saw value in what you are doing here, Herr Doktor."

"I will admit that I took advantage of the Fuhrer's fancies," said Kihl, calmly. "Who didn't?"

"Who indeed," said the Red Skull. "These fancies were apparently worth draining what little of your family fortune you could salvage before the Nazis seized it to fund the last days of the war. You're broke, mein Herr, not to put too fine a point on the matter."

"Did you come here for a reason, or to intimidate me?"

"If it is the latter, said Schmidt, drawing up to him, "I have succeeded."

Kihl drew back.

"You found results, Herr Doktor. You will reveal them to me."

Kihl swept his hand over the scroll reader and his notes. "Essene holy texts, found by a shepherd in-"

Schmidt pulled out his sidearm and shot Maria in the calf. It happened so quick Kihl barely registered the noise until he heard her screaming follow after it, tinged by the ringing in his ears. The Red Skull touched the side of his head and tilted it from side to side, as if fighting a crick in his neck.

Kihl nearly fell in rushing to her side. She moaned, tears spilling down her cheeks. The wound grazed her leg, but it was bleeding badly. Kihl tore his shirt off and looped it around, pulling it tight, and the faded white silk darkened with blood. It was a minor wound. He glanced over his shoulder.

Schmidt had the gun aimed at her head.

"I didn't miss. In fact, had I wished it, I could have placed the bullet in the artery not far from the wound and she would be dead in thirty seconds. Now, Herr Professor Doktor, would you like to reconsider lying to me?"

"I told you-"

Schmidt's thumb pushed the safety down.

"Alright!" Kihl barked, shielding her with his body. "Alright, I'll show you."

He stood up, glancing at Maria as he moved to the far end of the tent. He cleared away one of the empty jars, gently resting it on the carpet that covered the sand, and cleared off some various pieces of debris and old notes. He knelt to open the safe, blocking Schmidt's view. He could feel the guns swinging around to his back.

"Careful, Doktor."

Kihl let out a slow breath and took a crab step to the side as he swung open the safe. Inside was a cube about the size of his fist, covered in parchment, tied with strings. He picked it up and stood, breathing out slowly.

"You said the war is over," said Kihl. "What good could any of this do you?"

"Hitler's war is over," said Schmidt, holstering his weapon. "A new war is beginning, a shadow war. The secret bomb the Americans have developed means the end of organized warfare as we understand it. The wars of the future will be fought by proxies, in jungles and deserts far from the combatant's homes, and even that will be a distraction. The true war will be fought in secret, hidden places, by men who are prepared to seize whatever means become available to them. Hitler's dreams died with him, Herr Professor, but I am alive."

Maria looked at him as though he were a coiled serpent, clutching the blood soaked makeshift bandage to her leg. Kihl pointedly did not look at her, the better no to draw Schmidt's attention to her again. He unwrapped the cube.

It rested in the palm of his hand, heavier than it looked. From a distance it appeared solid, made of a strange ochre mineral, lit somehow from within. On closer inspection, the surface was densely packed with writing- and not only the surface, the entire mass, diagrams within diagrams, wheels within wheels, enough knowledge to fill a thousand thousand scrolls all packed into a space the size of a man's fist. Kihl held it up.

"That," said the Red Skull, "is your secret. What is it?"

"Knowledge," said Kihl. "Immense knowledge."

"If that is nothing but a container for religious texts," said Schmidt, "If you have wasted my time…."

"I haven't," Kihl said hurriedly. "This predates religion, this object predates mankind. It has been in this valley for thousands, perhaps millions of years, or longer. The Essenes who learned to open it studied only a tenth of its wisdom."

"Opened it," said Schmidt. "How does one open it?"

"It is… interesting to see," said Kihl. "I would appreciate it if you did not shoot my assistant in alarm."

Schmidt's unblinking eyes flicked to her. "If this is a foolish attempt on my life, know that even if you succeed, there are ten men outside ready to riddle this tent with bullets, Doktor. Do not be a fool."

"I'm not," said Kihl.

His fingers slid over the perfect, unmarred surface. He'd spend months looking for the marked places on the surface the scrolls themselves described, searching for the right spots, to no avail. Every method of searching, every too, turned up nothing. The surface was perfect, unmarred. To find the right spot one had to listen to one's fingers, for lack of a better term, an alien sort of synethesiac sensation. He found the right spot and pressed, and the cube did not give.

It expanded.

The orange script flashed out, expanding in every direction. Schmidt was actually startled, his hand halfway to his weapon before he stopped, his features twisted in an alien, unwelcome expression, foreign to his disfigured death's head. Wonderment. Orange script was everywhere around them all, filling the tent like flakes of snow in a blizzard. Kihl could still feel the weight of it in his hand, although he held a shapeless ball of script. He could even feel the sharp edges digging into his palm.

"Fascinating," said Schmidt.

"The amount of text contained in the device is mind boggling," said Kihl.

The Red Skull's features twisted in an almost sneer. "Indeed. I do not recognize this script."

"There are few who can. The ancient Essenes of this place set about translating it themselves. I have been studying translations of translations, lacking the resources to attack the cube itself."

"Do you have a functional lexicon?"

Kihl thought of Maria on the ground, clutching her wounded leg.

"Yes," he sighed. "I have begun the task of creating a direct lexicon, without the need for a translation of a translation."

"Is there anyone else who can translate this material?"

"No. The scrolls are heavily damaged. It would take decades to recreate my work, perhaps more."

Kihl moved his hands and the cube slammed shut, reforming in his hand. He held it out and the Skull took it, his thin not-lips twisting in a small, satisfied smile.

"There were many special projects during the war, Kihl," said Schmidt, "None were successes, other than the serum that gave me my _gifts." _

"Of course," Kihl said, smoothly.

"What is this device, Doktor?"

"The records of an alien race that seeded this planet with life, possibly eons ago."

"A holy text? Prophecy? Warning?"

Kihl fought to keep his face neutral. "An instruction manual, so to speak."

Schmidt paced around the tent. He stooped slightly to touch Maria's head, smoothing her hair as he might pet a dog, without looking at her. "Why is it here? Why not a Roman treasure room, why not some hidden vault in the Vatican? Why was it hidden?"

"Because it is dangerous. If the scrolls are true, the technology these ancients possessed… is all but magic."

"Magic," said Schmidt. "I see. I am suitably impressed, Herr Doktor. I think it is time we discussed the terms of your employment."

Schmidt snapped his fingers, and two guards rushed in. They were not dressed in proper Reich uniforms, although they too wore heavy coats and black helmets, and carried slung machine guns. They lowered a chair for him to sit on. One brought a folding table into the tent and spread it out, while another carried a silver tea set, and yet another bore a cigarette stuck in a long holder. Schmidt leaned to one of them and spoke softly, and a medic slipped into the tent, squatted beside Maria, and opened his kit.

"Tea?" said the Red Skull.

**Buenos Aires**

**1948**

"It's so beautiful here."

Kihl stood at the back of the room, watching his Madelena. After moving here they had abandoned her alias, and he had taken up a new one, but in private he was Lorentz and she was Maddy and all was right in the world. She leaned on the wrought iron railing surrounded by the billowing gossamer curtains of their balcony, the wispy cloth framing her slender form like the wings of an angel. Kihl watched her, the slender wisp of her body illuminated by the sun and made quite visible under the sheer cloth of her dressing gown. The modest ring he had given her -they could not afford to be too extravagant- shone on her left hand, glittering in the morning sun. They had been married in a small church not far from the hotel, by a local priest. An old _vaquero_ stood in for Maddy's father and the groom's side was filled in by a fruit vendor and a local man who claimed to be a poet. Maddy wore a sturdy, business like skirt and jacket and Kihl wore a linen suit and so they were both married.

Kihl saw the ugly scar of a gunshot wound on her thigh and tensed, as he did each time he saw it, tugging the perfect curves of her leg out of shape. He shook his worry away and sidled up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist, and pressed his chest to her back, his chin on hers. She'd stopped dying her hair and it had resumed its rich black, so dark seemed blue. He rested his hands on hers, his long, fine fingers lacing between the short, delicate ones of her small hands. Her skin, always pale no matter how much she was in the sun, glowed in the morning light and even bare of makeup she was a vision. She was all he had in the world.

The Red Skull knew it.

He saw the man's car rumbling down the cobbles, an enormous Rolls in gray and black. Kihl, most of his fortune gone and now living on the good graces of a war criminal, avoided ostentation, displays of wealth. He would have melted into the countryside with Maddy and disappeared if he hadn't known that Schmidt would find them and murder her on general principles. As he saw a member of Schmidt's staff emerge from the car and move to the rear, he ushered her inside and moved her in the bedroom.

"Lorentz," she whispered, her voice cracking as she choked back the tears. "What is he doing here?"

"I don't know."

He pulled the French doors shut in front of her. They were wooden frames filled with lace, turning her into a ghostly shadow. "Stay there. Keep your pistol ready."

They maintained the fiction that it was to defend herself, but they both knew what it was for.

Kihl slipped into a jacket and waited in the parlor of the suite. The front door unlocked, and two of Schmidt's agents, dressed in nondescript clothes, stepped inside.

The man himself ducked under the lintel of the door. He wore a Panama hat and a scarf around his mouth and a pair of heavy, dark sunglasses, and his skin was covered in mottled, amateurish makeup. It would serve to disguise him sufficiently if he remained in the car. He tore off the hat and scarf, folded the glasses, and handed them to one of his aides, then daubed the makeup away from his cheeks and brow with a folded handkerchief. One of his men stuck his cigarette holder in his mouth and lit it for him.

"Professor," he said brightly. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Begin?" said Kihl. "I was told the facility would not open for another six months."

The Skull glanced at the bedroom door. "We are advancing the schedule. I hate to interrupt the honeymoon, Herr Professor, but you are needed now."

"But my wife-"

The Skull's warped face twisted into the sneer that passed for his smile. There was no levity in it. "My men will of course remain here, to ensure her safety."

"You mean to hold her hostage."

"If you wish. Think of it as your obligation as my vassal, mein herr. Please your liege lord and he will not claim the right of _prima noctis."_

"I'll do whatever you want," Kihl said, quietly. "Leave her out of this."

The Skull's expression flattened. "Do not presume to give me orders, Professor. I may have to chide you."

Kihl swallowed.

"Indeed. Follow."

The Skull turned and Kihl followed him, glancing over his shoulder at the two men standing inside the door to his honeymoon suite. They didn't bother to close it behind him, as if making a point, and stood stone still, almost like statues. Schmidt was joined by a ring of other adjutants and they walked in silence down through the parlor of the hotel and out onto the street, where one of the Skull's men opened the door to the car. Kihl slipped inside.

The Skull handed him a heavy stack of folders. "Potential recruits."

"For what?"

"Ours is not a mission of discovery," said the Skull, "we will exploit the fruits of your labors and develop these advances."

"Into weaponry?"

"Into whatever I require."

Kihl opened the first folder. "Anthony Stark?"

The Skull regarded him neutrally.

"Stark? The American weapons manufacturer? Are you ma…"

The Red Skull's eyes narrowed by a tiny degree. Kihl's teeth clicked shut.

"Your observation is an astute one," said Schmidt. "It will be some time before old wounds heal, and we are able to develop the sort of talent we need to complete the more advanced projects, but it would be foolish to ignore strong minds who can contribute and lay the groundwork for future projects. Stark's designs may lead to a solution to our power requirements."

"I'm not an engineer," said Kihl, "I don't presume to know the details."

"That is why I tolerate you," said Schmidt. "So few academics are willing to acknowledge their own limitations."

"Yet, how? Why would this man work for you?"

"He won't," said Schmidt. "He will work for you, or rather, he will work for the man we are creating, who bears your face and name. The chaos of the war's end has given us much to turn to our advantage. It will be simple to create a family fortune out of thin air to replace the one you squandered."

"I was a member of the Party," said Kihl.

"They have Von Braun working on their rockets, and they are using Speer's intelligence against the Soviets, Professor. The new war began as soon as the old one ended, and it is, as they say, breeding strange bedfellows."

"Do you mean to align yourself against the Communists?"

"Don't be ridiculous," the Skull waved a hand, breathing out a steady stream of smoke. "Ideology is dead. There are men of opportunity under every flag, in every nation. It is but for us to harness their talent. Alas, my reputation precedes me. You, on the other hand, are a refuge without any troubling associations, and a newly restored family fortune."

"So, I will act as the head-"

"The outer head. No decision will be made without my authority," said Schmidt. "_No_ decision. If you change the color of the paint in your office without my leave, dear Madalena will have to suffer the consequences. Is that understood?"

Kihl stared blankly at the first page of Stark's file. The cruelty of the world, that he should have saved her from the camps to lead her to this. He should have found a place for her in Palestine and left her there. A momentary flicker in his mind, and he saw her standing on the balcony as she had that morning.

Only now, she was surrounded by her mother, and her sisters.

Kihl blinked and stared out the window.

"You will travel with your wife," said the Skull, "it would appear odd if you did not. I am already preparing the way, ensuring you will be regarded as a disgraced academic and a victim of the regime. Again the chaos at the end of the Reich's fall works in our favor."

"I was not a member of the party by choice," said Kihl. "I never shared its ideals."

"Indeed," said Schmidt. "I might say the same thing."

Kihl slowly looked at him, trying to keep his expression neutral.

"Hitler was never ready to go far enough," the Skull mused. "Too entranced by his convenient fictions, a sad, ugly little man unworthy of the role providence laid upon him. I will not make the mistake of letting my lessers command me again."

Kihl spent the rest of the ride feigning interest in the documents. He would go over them later. He was too busy stilling his beating heart, trying to think of some way out of this situation. If he fled, Schmidt would find him. If he sent Madalena away, Schmidt would kill her to spite him, or worse. If he went to the authorities, he would be branded a war criminal and imprisoned, and Schmidt would kill Madalena. Every option he considered led nowhere, every path closed to him but the one he was one.

"Don't waste your time," Schmidt said idly, apropos of nothing.

Kihl resigned himself, closing the folder. He watched the streets of Buenos Aires roll by until the car took a sharp turn down a narrow alley. He could not see through the driver's compartment, but he caught a glimpse of a brick wall. It must have been a false one; he saw the threshold pass as the car drove through it, and watched a metal door lined with a facade of bricks slide up behind him. The interior was lit by harsh sodium lamps, and not much larger than the lumbering vehicle itself. Schmidt stubbed out his cigarette and shifted in the seat.

Kihl realized he was becoming used to the man's atrocity of a face. Something deep inside him shuddered, coldly.

Eventually, the car stopped. Schmidt stepped out as an aid opened the door. One opened Kihl's door and he stepped out. One of the Skull's men seized his stack of papers, spun him around, and frisked him, double checking his pockets. He removed a pocket watch, the only article he'd been carrying, and flipped it open. An old photograph of Madalena from before the war was tucked inside, against the cover. The man studied it for a moment, smiled quietly to himself, a very Teutonic smile, and slipped the watch back into the pocket of Kihl's coat.

When he was released he said, "You treat me as if I am already a traitor."

"Caution is warranted," said Schmidt, lighting another cigarette. He drew the holder from between his teeth and blew a smoke ring. "There are already means of altering a man's mind, and in the future there will undoubtedly be more. Come."

Kihl expected some sort of scientific facility. From the doors he passed, he knew there were hints of one, but he was led into a room that could be a richly appointed Continental drawing room. Seated facing away from the door was a pale man with jet black hair, clad in a smoking jacket and slacks. He was reading something- a technical journal, by the look of it. Kihl glanced over his shoulder and saw a spiral molecule diagrammed on the one page.

The Red Skull blew out a long streamer of smoke. "Lorenz Kihl, may I present Nathanial Essex, late of London."

The man stood up and turned around, and Kihl drew in a breath. He was not merely pale; he was white as death, some sort of carnival nightmare. His eyes were flat red without sclera or pupil, and there was a crystal of some kind set directly in his skull. His blue lips resembled those of a corpse, and spread in a thin smile over teeth yellowed with age.

"Essex," the Skull hissed.

He smirked, and he _changed_. His skin darkened, blooming with tiny pockmarks and scars, a hint of a birthmark, the normal discolorations present in a human being. He blinked his eyes and they went from scarlet to blue, perfectly normal. He extended his hand.

Kihl first declined, and then thought better of it. His grip was like iron.

"Herr Kihl," said Essex. "Our associate has told me so much about you. It is a pleasure to encounter a mind of your caliber, so rare among these cattle."

Something about his casual use of the term frightened Kihl. He hoped it didn't show, but knew otherwise.

"I am flattered that my reputation precedes me, but you have me at a loss."

"I am a geneticist," said Essex, "and I have already begun working with some of the data gathered from your researches into the Cube. Please, sit."

Schmidt remained standing, perusing the nearby bookshelf and puffing on his cigarette while Kihl sat opposite Essex.

"The possibilities are _remarkable. _A complete reshaping of the human genome, not as a gradual process of selective breeding or engineering but _instantly_, worldwide. Imagine the power such a tool presents. An end to disease, an end to infirmity, an end to _weakness_. A true…" he glanced at Schmidt, "Master race."

The Red Skull turned from the books. "Imagine a future, Kihl, where a chosen few are masters of the world, immortal, invincible, immune to disease, able to heal any injury. Imagine a race of perfect soldiers who do not need to eat or sleep, armed with weapons that can render men down to the primordial soup in an instant. We could be _gods. _Essex' part in our grand drama represents only the first step. One of many. You should be honored."

"I am," Kihl lied.

He listened to Essex rant, failing to understand most of it, and made his excuses. He rode back to the hotel alone, in the back of the Skull's car, and when he arrived, he opened his own damned door. He found the door to the room unlocked, and as he passed inside, Schmidt's men gave him curt nods and departed, drawing the door closed behind them.

When he pushed into the bedroom he found Madalena sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging herself. He sat down beside her and her head fell on his shoulder, and she sobbed violently.

**Empire State University**

**Manhattan**

**1956**

Kihl had much on his mind. His hands trembled as he drove, navigating the narrow, crowded Manhattan streets in the unnecessarily bulky Chevrolet Bel Air that Schmidt had insisted her purchase from a local dealer, just as Schmidt had carefully chosen the house in Queens he would occupy during his time recruiting the American scientists for the project. He finally found his turn -he was not yet used to driving on the right side of the road, even- having missed it the first four times, and pulled onto the campus. He had many things on his mind, even beyond the usual looming threat from torture and death at the hands of one of the world's most wanted criminals.

Madalena was pregnant.

Ahead he saw the parking lot for the University, an island of trees and low buildings in the sea of ever expanding skyscrapers that surrounded him, choking out light from the sun and fresh air. He hated this place; he hated the chain of events that brought him here. He pulled up to a boxy little hut where a bored looking security man sat on a stool, next to a striped pike that crossed the road, though Kihl could have simply walked around it. These Americans had, at some point, decided that their automobiles were the center of the universe. He pulled the behemoth to a stop and rolled down the window.

The guard nearly leaned into the car. "What can I do for you, sir?"

"I'm visiting a student," Kihl said, disguising his accent as best he could.

The guard nodded and waved him on, the gate lifting up to admit the car. It trundled along until he found a sufficiently open spot and he pulled into it, threw the lever into park, and stepped out. The warm September was choked with smog, although one would never know from the attitude of the people around him. In his tweed jacket and waistcoat and had he looked every part the visiting lecturer, and the crowd parted naturally around him. He tugged his watch from his pocket and looked at the time, and took a good look at the faded photograph of Madalena before he snapped it closed again.

The change of classes was beginning and he was to meet his contact in the hallway. He made sure he had the right room and stepped aside as the students poured out. He felt a pang of regret at seeing their fresh young faces, so eager to learn and build their contributions to the body of human knowledge. Kihl was beginning to mind his nerves. His prospective recruit had not yet appeared. According to the Skull's files he was notorious for skipping classes and his domineering attitude. It would be just his luck to report back that he had failed to even meet the man.

The door banged open, and two men stepped out. The shorter of the two looked older than his years, a hint of premature gray around his temples. He had an animated, concerned expression on his face.

"I'm telling you, Victor. You have a calculation in error in one of your formulas. If you activate this machine, it could be catastrophic!"

The other man waved him off.

Tall, dark hair to his shoulders, he could have found work in Hollywood if he had not taken up an interest in the sciences instead. He wore his sweater and slacks with the casual air of a man too good for the world around him. Kihl mad met royalty who were less haughty. He disliked this man immediately.

He was to recruit him.

"Richards, you are a fool," he snarled. "Always so cautious. Science is to be found on the edges, at the extremes. There is no discovery without risk."

"You're letting your personal feelings cloud your judgment, Victor. Let me-"

"_No,"_ he snapped. "When I require your opinion of my researches, Richards, I'll ask you for it."

He turned on his heels and stalked away. The shorter man, Richards, gave him a reluctant look and strode away. He appeared to be meeting a fair haired woman, much younger than he, at the end of the hall. They spoke animatedly of something, their looks charged with a sort of sensual fury, a restrained desire that permeated all their gestures, even the simple touch as she rested her fingers on his upper arm.

Kihl sighed. It could have been him and Madalena, all those years ago.

Von Doom finally took notice of him.

"You are the man who is so insistent on wasting my time," he snapped.

Kihl restrained himself, with some difficulty. "Lorenz Kihl."

He thrust out his hand. Von Doom looked at it dismissively, and he let it fall to his side, resting in his pocket.

"You are arguing with your colleague."

Von Doom waved his hand with a dismissive snort. "Richards is a fool. A great mind shackled by caution and illusory morality. He could be so much more than he is."

Kihl glanced over his shoulder. They were holding hands now, wandering away at a pace that suggested they were heading nowhere in particular.

"There will be a new age," von Doom nearly shouted, raising his fists. "An age of marvels, and I will be one of its great figures."

"I am here to speak with you on that very account," said Kihl. "Your paper published last fall is of interest to myself and my colleagues."

Von Doom stopped in the hall. "My colleagues mocked me for it. Fools."

"Indeed," said Kihl. "Witchcraft to the ignorant, simple science to the learned."

"I have been dismissed as a charlatan, my ideas mocked as a superstition, accused of _alchemy_, of all things."

Kihl looked him in the eyes. "I believe you."

"I've done some research on my own," said von Doom, "into you. You were a Nazi."

The word turned to ice in the air. "Everyone was a Nazi. As an academic, I was in a precarious position."

Von Doom gave him a flat look. "An academic above all should never bow to unreasoning thugs. You-"

"I was not making a decision for myself alone," said Kihl. "I left at the earliest opportunity."

Von Doom nodded slowly, his haughty expression cracking for the first time, but only for a bare second.

"Let us cut to the chase, as these Americans say. What is it you want?"

"To recruit you for our consortium. You are not the only man of reason and intelligence to realize that the strictures of academia are ill equipped to face the new age, von Doom. I have some materials for you to review, a hint of what my organization is undertaking."

"What exactly is your organization undertaking?"

"An entirely new scientific field: Applied metaphysics. The science of the soul."

There was a flicker of interest on von Doom's face. Kihl sighed inwardly and began to explain.

**Manhattan**

**1957**

"I have to leave," said Kihl.

"I know," Madalena said, coldly.

She'd been lying in the same bed for three days, barely eating, not really sleeping. Kihl leaned on the door frame, at an utter loss as for how to help her. He hadn't seen her like this since '40, when they left Germany for Palestine, and her family was left behind. In a way, he understood. They had lost their chance at a real family. He took her away from home to save her, took her from her family because there was no room for him, only to subject her to this, living in constant fear that thugs would break down their door in the middle of the night. He had an appointment, and he dared not miss it.

It was slashing rain, turning the city a pale gray as he drove through Midtown. Its usual vibrancy was muted, the crowds on the sidewalk sheltering under a bobbing sea of gray and black umbrellas. He could only go a few miles per hour in the creeping traffic, and so feared he would miss his appointment. Though it was nominally spring, it was bitterly cold. He tilted his head to glance out the window at the towering shape of the Oscorp Tower, his destination. Wrestling the big car off the road, he drove up a short but steep ramp and up to a gate. A valet in livery ran up to the car.

"Mister Kihl? You're expected. I'll take care of the car for you, sir."

Kihl nodded gratefully, passed him the keys, and took his satchel. It was a short walk from the parking garage into the building itself. His feet slipped a little on the tile floor. He was getting old, and his knee gave him trouble, making soft crinkling sounds only he could hear with each step. He brushed some of the rain out of his rapidly thinning hair and headed for the elevators, standing in clear shafts in the middle of the immense lobby. He pulled the card from his pocket, checked it, and pressed the button for the executive penthouse.

A buzzer on the panel chattered, and a distorted voice asked, "Name?"

"Kihl. Lorentz Kihl."

"You're late."

The elevator started to rise, the world falling away from him, although the shaft was no longer clear once the elevator passed the first floors. It moved fairly quickly, giving him a glimpse of labs, offices, all futuristic, state of the art. He was not as overawed as he should have been. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, he was greeted by two thuggish men who overstepped him by a foot each, and frisked him. Something about the entire affair had a very criminal air. It bothered him.

Once he'd been properly humiliated, the tone set, he stepped out onto plush carpeting. He was surrounded by lush plants. A desk sat the end of a garish American imitation of an old world elegance, the chair behind it turned to face the rain. Someone had a taste for melodrama. Kihl waited until the guards left before he approached, standing between two oversized guest chairs that sat before the desk. He lowered his satchel to the ground and the chair turned around.

Norman Osborn did not stand up. He was a man who clearly devoted himself to appearing as intimidating as possible, although the effect was spoiled somewhat by his peculiar haircut. He kept up the act, tenting his fingers in front of his face like a villain in a bad serial.

"Good afternoon, Mister Osborn," said Kihl. "I represent…"

"I know who you represent, and why you're here. Stark turned you down."

Kihl gave a half nod by way of assent.

"The son is not the father," said Kihl. "May I sit down?"

Osborn gestured to one of the chairs and Kihl took it.

"Something to drink?"

"Thank you, no. I had hoped to get right to business."

Osborn nodded, and Kihl drew the folder from his satchel, checked it, and rested it on the desk without removing his hand from it.

"There are men who have been burned alive for what you are about to see."

Osborn smiled a shark like smile and drew the folder across his desk, and opened it. He flipped through the pages idly, stopping at the third, where the diagram of the proposed Super Solenoid engine was clipped. He ran his fingers over the page, then pulled a pair of reading glasses from his pocket, slipped them on, and pitched forward. He scanned the page, mouthing the solutions to some of the equations himself.

"Your people think this device will actually function."

"Yes," said Kihl. "We have top minds at work on it already. As you can see from the prospectus, our organization has a number of divisions, all working for the advancement of mankind."

"Genetic research, alternative energy. Curious, I don't see anything about weapons development."

"Perhaps that is why Stark turned us away."

Osborn closed the folder. "What are you proposing?"

"A research partnership," said Kihl, "a very generous one. Our organization is well funded and extensive, Mister Osborn. Our goal is not to waste anyone's money or time. Or goal is an… alignment, a finding of common ground between individuals of talent, ingenuity, and means."

Osborn nodded slowly. "You're planning something, and you'd rather have me as an ally than an enemy."

"I didn't say that," said Kihl. "The sensitive nature of these researches requires a certain perspective. Imagine the potential profit in an engine that can produce infinite energy."

Osborn's eyes remained flat.

"Now, imagine the potential profit in carefully withholding and controlling such a device. In having control over it."

He smiled his shark-like smile again, and passed the folder back to Kihl. "What is it you want from my company?"

"To seek your expertise and your manufacturing capability, particularly for our development of energy sources and military technology. I am a survivor of the Second World War, Osborn. I would prefer never to see such a conflict again."

"You think that can be accomplished by one side having the bigger stick?"

"No," said Kihl, "I think the nature of warfare is changing and I should make sure the right side has the decided advantage. Don't you?"

Osborn nodded slowly. "I'll consider it."

"My card," said Kihl, sliding it across the desk. "There is no hurry."

He stood to leave. Osborn leaned in his chair, and it creaked. "Who do you really work for, Kihl?"

Kihl froze. "I started the organization myself."

"Interesting that you were broke," said Osborn, "and that somehow you became wealthy again in the middle of a transatlantic flight from Algeria to Argentina."

"I had taken steps to secure my family's funds before fleeing Germany with my research assistant, Osborn. My Jewish research assistant, who is now my wife."

Obsorn nodded, more slightly than before. "I'll be in touch."

Kihl felt lighter as he made his way back to the car. When he arrived in the garage, there was a different valet, but he had a chit in his pocket and when he offered it, the new man went to retrieve his car. He tapped his foot impatiently. He had no appointments scheduled for a week, and if he had to lie in bed with Madalena for the entire time, he would. Whatever it took. His car pulled up, the valet stepped out, and he dropped inside.

A gun barrel touched the back of his head. He froze. A grizzled man in an trench coat, an eye patch covering his left eye, sat up.

"Drive."

Kihl eased in the throttle and pulled out onto the street. The man made himself comfortable, the gun and its heavy cylindrical suppressor still aimed at the back of his head. He glanced from side to side, nervously.

"Drive casually, _Herr_ Kihl."

"Just because…."

"You're German doesn't make you a Nazi. Working for the Red Skull makes you a Nazi, _Herr_ Kihl."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a professor."

"Of what, exactly?"

"Formerly mythology, currently applied metaphysics."

"Odd contacts for a professor of mythology, Kihl. Norman Osborn. Anthony Stark. Victor von Doom, Otto Octavius. Corporate magnates specializing in weapons and military technology, roboticists, whatever the hell von Doom was before he disappeared. Have you heard from him, lately?"

"No," said Kihl. He hadn't; contacts with him past that point were handled by his subordinates.

"Do you know who I am?"

Kihl shook his head, only slightly.

"Good, that will keep things simple. How's the wife?"

Kihl's hands tightened on the steering wheel.

"I know what they have on you, professor. We can get you out."

"There's nothing to get me out of," said Kihl. "I am a retired academic. I do some consulting work for some business interests to support myself and my wife. I am not a spy, or an agent, or anything else, and you are pointing a gun at my head for no reason."

He heard the safety click on and all but felt the gun sweeping away from him.

"I am an old man, I am tired, and I want to go home."

"Stop at the next corner."

"But-"

"Now," he growled.

Kihl pulled over, much to the consternation of the drivers behind him, which they voiced with their horns. The one-eyed man pointedly holstered his weapon under his overcoat and opened the back door of the car.

"My card is in the glove box. Call me if you change your mind, Kihl."

He stepped out and slammed the door shut, and Kihl put the car in drive and pulled away, tires spinning a little. He glanced in the mirror. The man in the overcoat had already vanished, melting into the crowd. His hands shook as he drove back from the city, until he crossed into Queens. Only then did he relax, partially. The rain was letting up.

The car jounced into the driveway and he killed the engine, sighing. The family across the street was arriving home from some excursion as well. Kihl rarely spoke to them, but he knew their names; the man was Benjamin, the woman May, and the boy, their nephew, about eight or nine years old, a scrawny boy in glasses. Kihl never learned his name. He stepped out of the car and down to the mailbox, frowning as he pulled the mail out, ignoring the neighbor's wave. Among the bills and advertising flyers there was an unmarked envelope. He opened it and found single sheet of paper, a message neatly typed in the middle.

We are watching you.

**Buenos Aires**

**1960**

Kihl waited calmly, at least outwardly. Seated at a cafe in Buenos Aires, he should have been at ease. Madalena was thrilled to return. She had always had moments of happiness here, when she let herself forget Kihl's… associations. For himself, there was only more stress. The organization -they were beginning to call it Seele, the Society of the Soul- was now large and well organized enough that it required his actual attention, and were he remiss in his duties, Schmidt would voice his displeasure. He still had the card the man in the overcoat had given him, hidden inside the hollow bedpost of their bed in Queens. As he saw the silver Rolls Royce approaching, he finished his cup of espresso and stood up, his overcoat folded over his arm.

Stepping into the car, Kihl kept his expression neutral. Schmidt casually read a newspaper, idly taking a bite from a sandwich grasped in his left hand. He glanced at Kihl and at the plate of food resting on the small board that folded out from the felt panel that separated the passengers from the driver. He gestured towards it, finishing his chew before he spoke.

Kihl declined with a shake of his head. "What is it?"

Schmidt glanced at him. "I've read your report. I compliment you, Doctor. Most men would not have handled Nick Fury so calmly."

Kihl remained quiet.

"You omitted nothing from your dialogue."

"Correct," said Kihl. "As I told you, Stark wouldn't hear of us. I wonder if it was he who tipped off-"

"Leave that to me," said Schmidt. "Best you avoid such thoughts, and such concerns, Doktor. If you were compromised, any information you have would end up in the hands of our enemies. How is your wife?"

"Fine," Kihl said, quietly.

"Fine," said Schmidt, "but getting older. As are you."

Kihl looked at his hand, frowning at the effort it took to close his thumb over his palm. Arthritis. "Your point?"

"We must advance the project."

"There are so many areas of concern," said Kihl. "The administration is a nightmare, and the budgets…"

"I expect to be handled. Did you see this?"

He held up the paper. "The Americans have built a functional space rocket, but are refusing to launch a manned mission to the Moon."

"I'm acquainted with one of the scientists on the design team, a man called Richards. He also turned us down."

The Skull nodded. "Osborn is failing in every attempt to refine a working super solenoid. Even the base materials are prone to somewhat _explosive_ failure."

Kihl shrugged. "I am no engineer."

"You will move away from the United States," said Schmidt. "I have already made the arrangements for your effects to be transported. You will not return. Do not attempt it; your papers have already been properly invalidated. You will redouble your efforts to decipher the cube, Kihl. We require samples of the alien technology. You have been able to tell us that they exist but not where they may be found, and I _must_ know."

"I need time for that," said Kihl. "The information stored in the cube is vast, the organization all but random. The original Scrolls offer no guide. Even with my lexicon-"

Schmidt's eyes slowly turned to him. "My patience rapidly grows thin when I am presented with excuses, Kihl."

"I will find the information you need," said Kihl. "I don't know how useful it may be. The artifact itself may be_ millions_ of years old. The original samples may have been buried by tectonic drift, or-"

"Leave that to me," said the Skull. "You will report any further attempts by Fury or his underlings to contact you, at once. Is that understood?"

"Yes," said Kihl, "It is understood."

"You will be dropped at the cafe. Take the evening off, but be prepared to be picked up and escorted to the facility in the morning. You have work to do."

**Buenos Aires**

**1961**

Kihl sat alone in a hospital waiting room. There was no television or radio, and so he took to reading and re-reading the same newspaper again and again while he waited, his aging hands shaking. Madalena had been with the doctors for four hours. The only thing he had to distract himself was the newspaper, the entire front section dedicated to the failed moon mission- Richards, the man he'd met a few times at Empire State, his wife, her brother, and a test pilot had stolen the American Moon-craft and attempted to make a flight, unwilling to wait for authorization from their superiors. They had failed.

They had been exposed to cosmic radiation and, somehow, had not died. Instead, they had been changed. Kihl marveled at the photographs of a man with an army eight feet long, stretching as though it were taffy, at a boy whose skin caught fire yet took no harm, and at the tragedy of the pilot a man called Grimm, now a walking mockery of the human form, coated in an armored carapace of spongy rock. He took in every detail of the flight, every available detail of the ship itself, the text of the speech Richards gave announcing the existence of his crew to the world. None if it mattered.

The nurse emerged and spoke softly to him. He didn't hear her. He stood up and walked slowly behind her until he stepped towards the white, antiseptic room, partitioned off from the hallway. He could see Madalena's hunched form sitting on the bed inside, and heard her sobs even as the doctor placed a hand on his chest. Kihl thought about brushing past him, and then stopped. The man had gray hair and eyes lined with worry, a look of feigned compassion molded on his face.

"What is it?" said Kihl.

"Cancer," said the doctor. "Pancreatic."

He drew in a ragged breath. "How long?"

"A few years, at the most," said the doctor. "A few months, more likely. Possibly sooner. It depends on how aggressive the tumor is."

"Inoperable?"

The doctor nodded. "Even if we could operate, I'm afraid it's spreading."

Kihl nodded, and swept past him. His wife was sitting on the examination table swathed in a blanket, shaking. Her eyes were sunken and her skin was sallow, her hair matted to her head. He'd never noticed how gray she'd become, how she'd shrunken in on herself, becoming even thinner. He sat down beside her and she fell against him, sobbing. He cradled her, resting his chin on her head, his fingers laced though her hair, and struggled not to break down himself. After a time she grew quiet, and they sat in silence for a while.

Eventually, she stood up, and he took her home. Neither of them spoke. Their house here was larger than the one in Queens but felt emptier, and he felt oddly saddened at the loss of the presence of the Parker boy, who'd been so inexplicably thrilled to learn that Kihl was an educated man, as if he were some sort of mythical being. America had its charms, the least of which was a comfortable distance that allowed him to forget, sometimes.

He drove the Bel Air to their house in silence -he had been permitted to keep it, and had somehow developed an affection for it- and all but carried her into the house. He gave her a sponge bath and washed her hair and carried her into the bed, and in the kitchen he made a tray of all her favorite things, but she ate none of it. He fell asleep in his clothes, lying next to her. When she slept all the worry went out of her face, and she looked just like she did in the faded photograph clipped in his watch, pale and dark haired and perfect, a mouth a little too large and made for smiling in a world where smiles did not come cheaply.

When the sun came up, he went to work. He made the call and the car picked him up. He was given the sign and received the countersign and was frisked and went to work. In the bowels of a complex beneath Buenos Aires, in a darkened chamber, he approached the sum of ultimate knowledge and opened it, his fingers finding just the right spots for information to explode around him, filling the room. He pushed on it until it moved to the right spot, where he had left off in his notes the day before, but he pushed a little too hard and that information swung away. He sighed and was about to move it back when he realized he'd stumbled on something.

The lexicon he'd developed had become second nature, and so he simply read the alien script, wondering how its makers had pronounced it, if they had need for sounds at all. He read a story, a very special story about Seeds of Life, of Adam and Lilith, and the forbidden union between them.

In the darkness he found light, and saw the truth of the Instrumentality of Mankind. He did not record the information, not yet. He began his search, frantic. He needed to know where the alien biological samples had been buried, and he needed to know soon. A few years at the most, most likely months.

If what the Secret Scrolls promised him was true, he would never need to fear living without his Madalena again.

**Moscow**

**1962**

Kihl drew up on himself. Despite his wool coat and fur hat and the heater in the lumbering limousine, he was freezing. Frost crusted the windows, and he could barely see. His breath turned to mist in front of his face, and every exhalation was labored. His arthritic hand hurt, his thumb throbbing, and his knee was still burning from the international flight. Worse, every movement made him jump. Every glance from a pedestrian on the street, every man in a suit, every police officer was in his mind the first of a contingent sent to detain an operative of the Red Skull on Soviet soil. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he forced himself to breathe and remain calm.

He thought of Madalena, not the frail skeletal shell she was becoming, beautiful Madalena as she had been when he first saw her, in a flower print sun dress with a kerchief in her hair, carrying an oversize load of textbooks towards her morning class, his class. He should have known when she sat in the front of row and touched the tip of her pen to her lips that he would marry her.

No. He should have left her be.

He winced at the thought. She'd be dead, with her family, had he not rescued her. Hadn't he bought her another twenty five years of life?

What sort of life?

His driver grunted and he looked up. He was there. The hotel where he would meet his contact loomed overhead, blocky and domineering, the new architecture of the ideal Communist state. The driver opened his door and leaned over to speak to him in whispered German.

"You are being observed."

He had no idea if that was to comfort him, or threaten him. He shuddered, blinking at the snow. Why did he have to travel to this place in December?

He was not to stay long, despite booking a room. He should be back in Buenos Aires within a few days, as he had promised. He hated himself for leaving Madalena in her illness, but the cost of failing to accede to Schmidt's demands were even worse. He clenched his overcoat around himself and carried his briefcase up the steps to the hotel. There were a few natives outside, he paid them no mind. He pulled his hat down as he walked into the lobby, his heels clicking on the tile floor. The bored looking clerk behind the front desk ignored him, as well. The possibility that the entire hotel was staffed by the Skull's people dawned on him, but he didn't want to press.

There was no elevator. He had to walk to the third floor, and by the time he did his knee was screaming and he was huffing and puffing, his heart not so much pounding as leaping to and fro in his chest, as if it could throw itself through his ribs. He needed more exercises, less coffee, less stress, and the more he thought about it the worse he became. He stilled himself and found the right door, he hoped, and knocked.

A moment later it was answered by a tall, broad man in a smoking jacket and slacks. He looked up and down the hall, seized Kihl by the shoulder, and drew him into the room, slamming the door.

"You are Kihl, I presume," he said in English.

"Yes," said Kihl. "You are…"

"Of course. Anton Vanko. The sign is 'From here to there'."

"The counter-sign is 'knight takes rook'," said Kihl.

Vanko let out a slow breath, and slipped his hand from under his coat. "Please, sit. Tea?"

"Thank you, no," said Kihl. "I appreciate the risk you take by meeting with me here."

"I don't think you do, Professor," said Vanko. "Then again, it's quite a risk for you, isn't it?"

Kihl sat and laid a folder on the table. It contained very little information, relative to what he presented to the others. Vanko took it without commenting and flipped through it, sipping his tea. He sputtered, and set the cup aside.

"This is insane."

"I assure you, it is not."

"Why would anyone ever need a suit of armor so large?"

Kihl leaned back in his chair. It creaked slightly, and he glanced down. "It is not armor, Doctor. It is a containment system."

"This technology is light years beyond anything I have ever seen, even when I worked for the Americans," said Vanko. "It looks…"

"Alien," Kihl said quietly. "Do you understand the sensitivity of this material? It's literally worth your life."

Vanko nodded and flipped through the rest of the folder, then closed it. Kihl took it, stood up, and walked to the waste basket at the plain desk under the window. He drew out a lighter, flicked it to a flame, and set the corner of the folder afire. When it caught, he let the flaming mass of it drop in the wastebasket, and watched it burn, the specially prepared paper curling into an undifferentiated black mass.

"I have a feeling it would be unwise to refuse your offer of employment."

"Perhaps," said Kihl, "perhaps not. I would ask you to consider what the Soviets would do with your designs, and what you could do with the materials I have just shown you, which are only a sample of what I have discovered."

"What, exactly, is it that you have discovered?"

Kihl sat down. "We must accept, Doctor, that the greatest discoveries of human history are unfolding around us. Flight, radiation, the atomic bomb, mechanical computing, all of these are but shadows, smaller parts of a larger whole. Humanity is discovering with frightening rapidity that we live in a much larger universe than we ever believed possible. Such a universe includes alien life… alien life that has visited the Earth in times past."

Vanko looked at him flatly. "I'm listening."

"At the end of the last century we were confronted by the revelation that we were not made in the image of God, but grew out of the muck on our own. This understanding shattered mankind's collective psyche, and what followed after was war, dissolution, death, a civilization in its death throes as all of its convictions were undermined. My discoveries bear a greater truth."

Kihl leaned back in his chair and folded his hands before him. "Man was not made by the God of Abraham… but there are _other _gods. Gods who left mankind with a great gift, as Prometheus gifted us the fire. Instructions."

"Instructions for what?" said Vanko.

"How to make new gods from ourselves."

Vanko breathed in and out, slowly. "If I hadn't seen those equations I'd call you a madman."

Kihl smiled. "I take it that means you accept our offer."

Vanko nodded, slowly.

**Doomstadt**

**Latveria**

**1964**

"I wonder," said Kihl, "How many living men know what lies beneath that mask."

"None," Doom rumbled, towering over him as they walked through the Great Hall of Castle von Doom.

Kihl would have scoffed at the pretension if he didn't value his life more highly.

"How is the project progressing?"

Doom stopped, hands folded behind his back, standing still, like a statue. In his tower armor he resembled some alien brand of death, some mad artists' mechanical mockery of the Grim Reaper in a skull of chrome and a green cloak. Kihl wondered how he could stand imprisoning himself so, what terrible secret lay beneath his polished mask. Even Tony Stark removed his armor sometimes, after all. Kihl couldn't be sure he was even speaking to the man himself. It was said he sometimes sent simulacra in his stead.

"I understand, now, why my device failed. Richards did not sabotage it. It would have failed even had I succeeded in perfecting the design. I have much to teach you, Professor Kihl. I have spent the last two years mapping the planes of the afterlife, reclaiming my heritage and learning the ways of the occult arts. I have such sights to show you."

He aimed his fist at Kihl's face. It crackled, the armor scintillating with an alien, yellow energy, like a tiny sun. "That is, if I do not kill you where you stand. No one plays Doctor Doom false."

Kihl took a breath. "You've learned who my superior is."

"Yes," Doom snarled. "It is only out of a minuscule professional courtesy that I have not already dispatched you."

"Very well," said Kihl. "Promise me this, though. If you kill me today, kill Schmidt, as soon as you can, before he has time to gather his resources and go to ground. I can tell you where he is."

Doom lowered his gauntlet.

Kihl let out a breath. "I had hoped one of you would learn. I should have known it would be you."

"Explain yourself."

"I am not a commando, or a warlord, or even a scientist. I have no means with which to move against him myself. At first, I cared only for the safety of my wife, and so I capitulated to him, carried out his orders."

"Now?"

"She is in a coma, Doom. Pancreatic cancer. She will not recover. Schmidt has extended me the _courtesy_ of keeping her in a state of living death in a hospital under his control. My world is falling apart."

Doom said nothing.

"My discoveries are too dangerous. The genie is out of the bottle. I need a partner, someone who will act in concert with me as a guiding hand. The technology of these ancients is a key to the future, but it has been spread into too many hands. I cannot act alone. I need you to act quickly in concert with me, to purge the organization of Schmidt's control and bring the various elements to heel. Only you could accomplish this."

"You mean for me to do your dirty work?" said Doom.

"No," said Kihl. "I have identified another who would leap at the chance to be the… I believe the expression is _trigger man_. I need only contact him and offer him the relevant details, and it will be so."

"Why should I trust you, after nearly a decade of duplicity?"

Kihl stopped in his walk. "This is the technology of the gods, von Doom. When we master it, you can throw out your map of the afterlife. We will create new gods, gods who serve us rather than their own fickle desires. There shall be a new heaven, and a new earth, for the old earth shall have died away."

Silence reigned in the hall of von Doom.

"I need time to move assets of my own in place."

"I thought I might expedite the process," said Kihl, "if I give you a full accounting of Schmidt's movements over the last several years, and the various individuals I have recruited."

"It would," said von Doom. "It surprises me somewhat that you would seek my aid."

"I know most of the accusations leveled against you by the West are false, and if they were, I've seen worse. My life has been a cruel joke, von Doom, a series of mistakes piled on mistakes. I see a path to correcting them and I mean to take it. I mean to make amends with the time I have left. For Madalena."

Doom nodded, his helm barely moving.

"Schmidt deserves to die for what he's done," said Kihl.

"Agreed," said Doom.

"I have something else in mind," Kihl whispered.

**Buenos Aires**

**1966**

There was a television in her room, this time. They were more common now. On television there was a giant man who came from the sky and proclaimed he meant to consume the world. People had seen rocks falling from the sky, the heavens aflame, and a gleaming herald of the destroyer to come. It was said that it was the end of the world, that the eschaton was at hand, that the last judgment was upon mankind. Some believed that the being that called itself Galactus was God, others that it was man's iniquity, the excesses of these so-called flower children, that had moved God to withdraw his protection.

In the end, the will of God or the Gods mattered not, for three men and one woman with powers beyond the ken of men spoke for mankind and told the great devourer to flee, lest he be destroyed. The planet Earth would not tolerate such intrusions. The meaning of it all was still sinking in. Absolute proof of alien life. The simple, brutal age of the World Wars seemed like a thousand years past, the men who charged up the beaches and died in the muck like knights on horseback, for all their relevance to these new days. In the end, the planet survived, the Four were heroes, and the world went on, not having ended.

Except, that is, for Kihl. He stared at an empty hospital bed, trying to understand the meaning of the neatly folded sheets, the silent machines, the darkness. The meaning would not come to him. He could not comprehend that he would not fire up his Bel Air and drive back to their little cottage and that Madalena would not be waiting for him, that she would cook him dinner, that they would not listen to music of better days on an old radio and make love and wake up so she could wait for him and they could do it all again. She would do none of these things.

Madalena was dead.

Kihl stared at his hand, cursing his infirmity, cursing the world that made men unequal, made men hurt, made some men weak while others were strong. He flexed and unflexed the joints, an action now made possibly only by the artificial ligaments and tendons that Vanko had implanted in his hand, turning it into a gnarled mass of scars, but a functional one. His hand worked, as did his knee. The advances made in both would be kept secret, though they should be shared with the world.

Madalena was dead.

The Red Skull stood outside her hospital room with two heavily armed thugs.

Madalena was dead.

Schmidt stepped into the room, not sparing a glance to the bed. "Kihl, you will come with me. It is time we made clear the ongoing terms of our relationship in light of this… development."

"You mean, now that you no longer have her as leverage over me."

Schmidt smiled, and barked an order.

His men dragged Kihl, an old man, out of his chair by his arms and dragged him down the hallway. Everyone working in the hospital was one of Schmidt's people, and yet they did not set eyes on the Red Skull, or raise any alarm, or do anything much different from what they might normally do in their everyday goings on. They carried Kihl out through the front doors and threw him in the back of Schmidt's car. He landed roughly, his knee, enhanced though it was, grinding until he nearly screamed. He sat on the back seat, throwing his leg out to lessen the agony, as Schmidt took up a seat beside him.

"Drive," he barked, and the car started and pulled away from the hospital. He turned to Kihl. "Now, Doktor, let me offer my condolences."

"I would prefer you go to hell," said Kihl.

"Your sudden rebellious streak is amusing," said Schmidt, "but it had best be short lived. I still-"

"Need me, yes," said Kihl.

"You rather treacherously arranged to produce an incomplete lexicon for the Scrolls, yes," said Schmidt. "The question now is whether I force you to work night and day to continue translating or simply torture you until you reveal what I need, shoot you and bury you behind the motor pool."

Kihl said nothing.

"I tolerated your… insolence out of a belief that you still held our goals in mind, that you mean to create a better world, an improved humanity."

"I do," said Kihl. "I have decided the world would be much improved without you in it."

The Skull laughed, his tight, raw throat undulating under his dry, yellowed teeth. "How clever. Do you think you are a spy now, Herr Kihl? Are you the spy of that Fleming man, what is his name… Bond, yes? James Bond? Do you think you're going to impress me with your wit?"

"No," said Kihl. "I'm stalling you."

The Skull's expression went neutral. Then, he whipped a pistol out of his coat.

The limousine slammed to a stop, as if it had hit an invisible wall. Kihl toppled forward, his knee cracking from the impact, and landed on the floor. Schmidt came down beside him, the gun clattering away towards the front of the car. Kihl didn't bother reaching for it. Schmidt scrambled for it, seized the grip, and tugged. It creaked, but did not budge from the floor. Kihl sat up and pinched the bridge of his nose, rolling to take the pressure off his knee. He would need to see Vanko about repairing the internal armature again.

Schmidt tugged at his weapon frantically, then stopped. There was a great sound, a kind of metal shriek, and the roof of the car rolled back, curling on itself like the lid of a tin of sardines, exposing the night sky. The side of the car, doors and all tugged away until the metal stretched, shrieked, and split, and the sides folded down, like petals of a flower. A man stood in the road in front of the car dressed in a cloak and helm, regarding them coolly. His steely gaze fixed on Schmidt.

Kihl managed to slowly, agonizingly stand up.

"Herr Schmidt," said Kihl, "May I present Eric Lensherr. I don't believe you've met."

"What is the meaning of-"

Kihl jammed the barrel of the pistol into Schmidt's back and pulled the trigger twice, in rapid succession. He was tough, a Super Soldier, but he was not bulletproof. He fell as though his strings had been cut, landing on the twisted floor of the sedan with a heavy thump.

"I'm not dead," he rasped, "I'll get up in a few hours, and when I do-"

"I know," said Kihl. "Quickly, Eric. We have work to do."

A van pulled up and a few of the Skull's former employees picked him up and tossed him on a stretcher, unconcerned for his broken back. Kihl lurched inside, nodding curtly to Lensherr, who returned the gesture and stepped off into the night. The doors closed behind them.

"Every day of my life, I lived in fear of you," said Kihl. "Every day I feared some minor infraction or some petty whim would cost Madalena her life. I had to live with the woman I loved, knowing that every time she saw me she saw you looming over my shoulder, waiting for your moment."

"You limited yourself," Schmidt spat into the floor. "You could be a god, and you concern yourself with a _woman_."

"I could be," said Kihl, "but you won't."

The ride to the appointed place was quiet. Kihl kept the pistol leveled at Schmidt's head. When the car pulled up, Lensherr was already waiting. The two men grabbed Schmidt by the legs and dragged him out; he could have killed with with a blow of his arms.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"I have studied everything I could learn of Erskine's research," said Kihl, standing beside the pit. "You may well be immortal, Schmidt. Your severed spinal cord will heal. It's possible that deprived of oxygen, you will go into a sort of sleep state, a form of hibernation. It may not be possible to actually kill you without destroying your brain, and your mind would be such a terrible thing to waste."

"You're a dead man, Kihl!" Schmidt screamed, his skeletal mouth frothing as he was lifted over the edge of the pit. He tumbled over the edge and landed on the floor with a sharp slap. He cried out, but quickly resumed his regular breathing. "No prison can hold me."

"You can jump at least six meters," said Kihl, "so I made the pit twelve meters deep. You can lift at least two tons, so the lid weighs six."

"I'll get out of this, and when I do-"

"There is nothing left for you to take from me, Herr Schmidt. If anything, you have given too much. I've been using the connections you made me establish to undermine your authority at every turn. You once spoke to me of the future, of the shadow wars in the coming age of the atom. The age of the atom is over, Red Skull. You're a relic of the past, a Republic serial villain desperately trying to fit in. You're so _small_, so limited. Shapeshifters, mind readers, aliens, super soldiers… and all you can think to do with them is play a child's game of silly costumes."

Kihl sighed. "Erik, if you would."

To his credit, Kihl remained steady while the massive lid of the prison-sarcophagus lifted from the ground, humming with invisible magnetic force. It dropped into place with a shuddering, hollow boom, and the detail of six trusted men Kihl arranged began shoveling black earth on top of it, sealing the grave.

**Los Angeles, California**

**1973**

Toshiro Ikari was late. He glanced at his watch, deeply annoyed at the traffic. He considered chastising the driver, but there was little the man could have done. He had a meeting with a certain Lorentz Kihl about a business opportunity, the possibility of a partnership with Kihl's company that would open up the Japanese market. Several of his competitors would also be in attendance. The business world was presently being rocked, prompting near riots in several financial centers as the bottom fell out of Oscorp, on the news that Norman Osborn, its president and chief executive officer, was dead, and that Spider-Man had killed him.

The international media was in an uproar. Half of them claimed that it was either self-defense, justifiable homicide, or both, as thousands of witnesses had seen Osborn in his guise as the Green Goblin throw a young woman named Gwen Stacy from the high tower of the George Washington Bridge, leading into Manhattan. Information was sketchy, but Spider-Man was on the run, his identity exposed by a package sent by Osborn to the Daily Bugle newspaper hours before his death, and several of his associates were in custody; one of the editors of the paper had been fired after a public row with the editor, a man named Jameson. What fascinated Toshiro was that Parker was not a magnate of industry, or even a particularly successful man; he was a recent college graduate of no particular distinction who worked primarily as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle itself. Amusingly, it seemed, his main source of material was himself, in his guise as Spider-Man.

Toshiro read all the American papers; while here in the States, he sent one of his people to collect them from the newsstand in the lobby of the hotel. He needed to assess the situation and make his movie. The Bugle's front page story was an amusing balance between savaging Parker, accusing him of a litany of crimes, and a veiled attempt to cover for the fact that the Spider-Man's chief media critic was also his employer. The article was rather salacious, written by a man named Brock that Toshiro had no familiarity with.

He'd already made several calls, shorting Oscorp stock the moment the first rumors of his disappearance hit the news, approximately a week before the incident. Osborn had been acting erratically for years, and his board had threatened to remove him twice. Toshiro was focused on a number of international trends, but the impact on the markets represented by this incident was a watershed, something that might never happen again. The media had been questioning for years the wisdom of the New York Stock exchange operating in a city crowded with mutants, masked vigilantes and lunatics, a city that was constantly under threat from strange forces. A good third of Toshiro's fortune came from anticipating and manipulating the financial fallout of a madman's attempt to turn the entire city into lizards, or Doctor Doom threatening to annihilate it with a tidal wave.

That Kihl had been passing him information about these events in advance was only part of the story, of course. Kihl seemed to possess an almost supernatural affinity for information, as if he had access to some dark art that would reveal trade secrets to him. Toshiro looked up from the paper, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He wondered how many of the men he would be meeting today would dress up in colorful costumes later. He snickered at the thought of adopting a secret identity himself. The car crunched through the parking lot of Kihl's tower, headquarters for the Institute for Human Advancement, which sounded like the front for some organization of black-suited criminals in a bad spy film. Toshiro shook his head as the chauffeur opened the door. He stepped out, buttoned his coat, and looked around. He saw representatives from NHIs, and from a number of his competitors. Kihl had of course requested that he attend in person.

Yes, this looked like a cover for something else.

The gala was being held on the fourth floor. Ikari presented his invitation at the door, and a young blonde woman took it, looked it over, and smiled warmly at him. As he looked around the room, he noticed a number of very attractive young women with well-turned calves in similar roles, all dressed in the same blue uniform with a pillbox hat.

If there was a giant globe in the lobby, he was going home.

As it turned out, there wasn't. There was a series of escalators- the bottom part of the tower was a massive open atrium, the fourth floor being visible from the lobby. Above that, it was all enclosed. Ikari joined his fellows, trying to look nonchalant and American. Some of the others had entire entourages with them, and stodgy old men with bad haircuts that were ten years of our date and suits that made them look like gangsters. Toshiro scoffed at them; the old men and their proprieties were a joke. The page had turned on them a long time ago.

When he reached the top of the series of escalators, a young woman approached him and bowed, awkwardly. "Mister Ikari?"

He returned the gesture, more elegantly.

"Chairman Kihl would like to meet with you in private, upstairs."

Ikari nodded. She turned and he followed her, making a point to study the motions of her rump under her tight blue skirt. She walked through the open space where the gala was to be held and produced a key that opened a separate elevator.

"It's this way, sir."

He stepped inside. She didn't. He arched his eyebrow, but she said nothing and turned the key. The doors slid shut, and he noticed there were no buttons, but it was already moving, and rapidly. It slowed after a moment and the doors parted onto a black marble floor. Etched along the ceiling of the room was an illuminated confusion of sigils, some sort of obscure Western occult symbol whose meaning did not immediately spring to mind. It reflected on the glassy floor, creating a rather disorienting effect.

The Chairman must have been sitting at the desk, facing the window. He turned around slowly, using a switch on his chair to control his movements. It was bulky and Ikari quickly realized that it was a sort of tank-wheelchair hybrid, running on tracks. The Chairman was in his seventies or eighties, and had not aged well. He slipped a pair of reading glasses on his nose with his left hand, letting his right rest on the black expanse of his bare desk. His fingers were ringed by some sort of apparatus that sank directly into his skin and clicked when he flexed his hand to pick up a small box. He pointed it at Toshiro and pushed a button.

Ikari froze in his tracks. Lights flashed on the floor, and a profusion of light sprung into being around him. He realized he was standing in the middle of a wireframe map.

"What is this?"

"The topography of the Hakone region," Kihl said quietly, his voice a harsh whisper. "It relates to my business proposal."

Ikari stepped out of the map, and Kihl pressed a button. It shifted, the surface rising. Buried beneath the mountains and the Ashii lakes was something he took to be a dense pocket of rock, but…

"Is this accurate?"

"Yes," said Kihl.

"You mean for me to build a structure of this size? It's enormous, no one could-"

"Not build," said Kihl, smiling thinly. "It is already there. I mean to excavate it."

"What is it?"

Kihl pushed the button again and the map vanished.

"Something more impressive than a glider and a fright mask."

**Tokyo, 1977**

Toshiro paced outside the delivery ward, stopping now and then to join the other men in watching the television bolted into the corner above the window. Slashing rain pelted the glass, almost overwhelming the audio. It was a surreal experience. The screams in the background were always clear. A riot had broken out in front of the American White House in their capital, between pro- and anti- vigilante protesters. He stood with his hands in his pockets, loosened tie dangling around his neck, and watched men in crude mockers of Spider-Man's masks -no one else seemed to bother with the mirrored eyepieces- locked in a struggle with a mass of men and women carrying pictures of the Stacy girl.

"Do you think it will pass?" one of the other expectant fathers said. "The Diet is considering a similar measure."

He meant the Power and Responsibility Act, named for a phrase Parker had used during his disastrous trial, in a ring speech given before his escape. The news reader was explaining the facts; under American and most similar systems of law, Parker couldn't actually be charged with any crime, given that it was Osborn that actually threw the girl off the bridge; her surviving family had declined to seek civil damages against him in light of his aunt's death after his identity was revealed. The bill's sponsor was J. Jonah Jameson, elected Senator from New York after stepping down from his media empire.

"I'm sure it won't," Toshiro mused. "The Americans adore their heroes."

Of course, it was going to pass. Kihl had already arranged it. He had at least three shapeshifters holding key positions in the United States Senate, and a variety of mind controllers and telepaths in his employ. There was the other matter, as well.

The broadcast switched to an advertisement for the new mutant suppressive drug. A pretty young girl with an obviously fake rubber prosthetic on her face swallowed a handful of pills, and in a flash, her normal appearance was restored. Toshiro was watching busily when a nurse approached him, pulling her surgical mask down over her face.

"Mister Ikari?"

Toshiro followed her into the recovery ward. The wife was asleep already. She looked like ten miles of bad road, with her eyes swollen shut and her skin sallow and clammy, but he could hardly blame her, given that she'd been in labor for nineteen hours. His child lay beside her in a plastic crib, waving a tiny hand. He scooped her up in his arms, taking the nurse's advice on how to support her neck. He stood there for a while rocking his newborn, staring into her still-dark eyes. When they handed him the forms, he put her name down as Yui.

There was a doctor waiting for him outside.

"Yes?"

Ikari could see the look on the old man's face. Given his status, Ikari could expect the best, most experienced doctors. Old doctors become accustomed to the delivery of bad news, forging a mask through the years they slip into while relating dooms to their patients. Ikari took a breath and waited.

The doctor tilted his head slightly to the side. "We've performed the standard tests."

"And?" said Ikari.

"Your child is a mutant. You know the rules. The reporting requirement."

Ikari shifted on his feet. "That won't be necessary."

The doctor's eyes widened slightly. "It's hospital policy. When the new law takes effect…"

"The new law hasn't taken effect," said Ikari. "I'm told there's a drug…"

"Yes," said the doctor, folding his hands in front of him. "Mutex. It's mostly effective, and the side effects are minimal. I'd suggest waiting until she manifests an ability before using it. She's lucky to look normal. I've seen babies born with wings, with vegetable matter in their bodies, things you wouldn't believe."

Ikari nodded. "I trust, doctor, that you will recognize the sensitivity of this matter. You know who I am."

"Yes, sir."

Ikari smiled slightly. "You have my word, your cooperation in this matter will be appreciated. Is anyone else aware of the test results?"

"No, sir."

"Keep it that way," said Ikari, brushing past him. "When my wife wakes up, let her know I'll be back in a few hours. I have some phone calls to make."

**Hakone**

**1982**

Toshiro enjoyed children. They were simple, they were easily pleased. Unlike the rancid bitch that bore her, Yui, his daughter, was thrilled by the prospect of wearing a hard hat and the promise that if she was quiet while her Daddy worked, there would be ice cream later. He would have to consider acquiring a new wife, given her recent penchant for complaining. She wasn't without cause, of course, since the largest and most secretive construction project in human history was gobbling up an obscene amount of his time, but Toshiro paid for her lifestyle and he doted on his child. What more could she want?

So he had sex with a few of his subordinates. Who didn't?

Exactly what compelled him to bring the girl along, he had no idea, but it amused him to watch her following along, taking exaggerated steps in her overcoat and the oversized hard hat that came down to her eyes. She walked closely behind him, holding the hand of his assistant. Yui's big green eyes took in the construction site like an alien landscape, regarding each of the massive construction machines as though they were lumbering behemoths from a past age.

He crouched in front of her. "Yui dear, I need you to wait here. Daddy has a meeting."

She nodded, and he shot his assistant a look. She led Yui away while Toshiro made his way to the temporary complex that had been built over the main excavation shaft. He passed through a door made of plastic sheeting, of the type that would be used in a cold room in a warehouse, and it was chillier inside. He heard the faint howl of the wind inside the structure Kihl called the Black Moon.

To call the pit a _shaft, _as if it were a mine, was somewhat deceptive. It was a half a kilometer across and the edges were terraced, allowing for the construction equipment built into the slopes. Backhoes so large they had to be built on the floor of the primary excavation, too large to be lowered by crane, were digging a spiraling tunnel down into the earth, heaving the soil into gigantic conveyor belts that carried it to the surface. The soil was destined to be put in plastic bags and sold to housewives, so they could grow plants in it. Waste not, want not.

A much narrow pilot shaft waited at the bottom. Toshiro stepped into a freight elevator, an open contraption of steel grating and exposed cables that was much safer than it looked, and the workman closed the gate behind him. He checked his watch and watched the black earth walls rise around him. The elevator went down on a slope, jouncing as it moved from terrace to terrace. At the bottom he stepped out, his immaculately polished shoes crunching on gravel. Kihl had requested this meeting here, and traveled personally to Japan. Toshiro was nervous. There was no shame in admitting that.

Sometime in the last ten years, Kihl had dispensed with the wheel chair. He moved in a ponderous, bulky way, the complex exoskeleton built over his legs whirring. The suit he wore was both armor and a kind of ambulatory hospital bed. Toshiro was reasonably certain that his own legs hung limp inside it, and his arms were folded across his chest, the two manipulators on the suit controlled by Kihl's mind, courtesy of a certain Otto Octavio's. Only his head was exposed, liver spotted and dusted with brittle white hair. At first, Toshiro thought he was wearing sunglasses, but the bulky visor appeared to be permanently attached to his skull.

Kihl's mouth moved, but no sound came out. A strap around his throat translated the motions to his armor and a synthesized voice said, "You have struck the Chamber."

"So it would seem," said Toshiro. Please."

At the far end of the pit floor was a trailer where the pilot tunnel was being excavated. All work had ceased when the drills struck liquid. Some of the men working on the project had to be persuaded to keep their mouths closed, for the simple reason that by all appearances, the drill had struck a massive underground deposit of blood. Inside the trailer, a sample of the material waited in a refrigerated tube. Kihl had to turn sideways to get inside, and his head nearly touched the ceiling. When he stood still he stood unnaturally still, like a statue. His right arm moved with a liquid, mechanical precision and a curious delicacy, the three stubby fingers of his claw-hand closing around the vial.

"The raw stuff of life," Kihl's armor said in a flat monotone. "As promised us."

Toshiro spread out the plans Kihl had sent him on the table. "Drilling into the Moon was one thing. This is insane, Kihl."

Kihl replaced the vial and loomed over the plans. Something mechanical in his visor whirred as it adjusted.

"I fail to see why. The structure of the Moon should be stable enough to permit it."

"The problem," said Toshiro, "is this. There's an entire city sitting on the spot where you want to build this mirror system. We can dig in from the side, but sooner or later the government is going to notice what we're doing and wonder how we plan to hold up Hakone."

Kihl considered that in silence. "Leave the government to me."

"I've had my engineers go over the plan."

Kihl's head snapped to him, and his visor whirred.

"They can be trusted," said Toshiro. "I've prepared contingency plans. We'll continue with the current excavation until the tunnel reaches this level," he tapped the paper, "then go laterally, moving in a circle, leaving columns to support the roof. The process will continue, allowing the construction of a spiraling roadway around the outside of the dome. The rock struts here will be reinforced with concrete and rebar."

He stood up. "You realize that this is the greatest construction project in the history of human civilization."

Kihl nodded, a brief, curt motion. "You have no idea, Ikari."

Toshiro ignored the cryptic comment. He was used to them by now. "The complex you mean to build on the floor is a separate undertaking. I don't understand why you think we're going to need all of this agricultural space, and you want me to build a series of caves within caves."

"Labs, working facilities."

"Between the agricultural fields, the artificial sunlight, the defenses… This looks like an enormous bomb shelter," said Ikari. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Kihl stared at him, the red glass plate of his visor as unreadable as stone. "There are many things I am not telling you. There will be great profit in this endeavor for you, and for your family."

The last words were emphasized, just slightly.

**-77° 37' 33.96", -34° 49' 28.93"**

**1987**

Fuck Kihl and fuck his fucking flair for the dramatic.

Toshiro Ikari held his hat to his head, or rather to the hat on which it was layered, which was on his head over the hood of his parka. The wind whipped around him, ice sliding over his cheeks like tiny razors. Antarctica was _cold_, and he failed to see why he was invited there at all, why Kihl insisted he join him in this desolate hell hole. Construction of the Geofront Project was going apace, he was even ahead of schedule. Kihl mostly left his subordinates alone when they did their jobs. The old man, of course, did not meet him outside. He was met instead by a rather scraggly looking man with intense eyes and hollow cheekbones, a heavily ruffed hood pulled up over his face.

"Toshiro Ikari," he shouted into the wind.

"Who are you?" Ikari demanded.

"Gendo Rokubungi," he shouted back.

He handed Ikari a length of wire with a clip at the end; Ikari attached it to his belt and followed him. The men who'd escorted him up the long path from the anchorage up the ice wall stayed behind, watching intently with rifles in their hands, their faces covered by masks. Ikari excused the theatrics. It was too cold to do without them. Ahead, at the end of the path, was a heavy door of polished steel, set in the ice. As Rokubungi approached he spoke into his radio and the doors opened. He pulled Ikari inside and waited for them to close, then pulled down his hood.

"You'll want to remove your coat."

Ikari blinked, and with a roar of air warmth blasted into the space, a sort of airlock between two heavy doors. Rokubungi sat down on the bench on the wall and Ikari joined him, stripping off his coat and the coat he wore under that, until he was dressed only in a sweater. Bu then, it was quite comfortable. Rokubungi stripped down to a t-shirt and slacks. Ikari glanced at him. He had a fighter's hands and an intense, almost wild cast to his eyes, an a jaw that would be a bite more masculine with a beard. There was something predatory about him that Ikari both liked and misliked immediately. He stood up.

"If you'll follow me."

Ikari rose and the inner door opened, and warm air rushed over him. A few steps up led to a long corridor. The entire structure appeared to have been built out of prefabricated sections, but it was as sleek and futuristic as could be, some sort of spaceship. Ikari had only heard rumors of what Kihl had to put together to accomplish this, and what the cost might be. There were a number of other corridors branching off from the main one, and he heard the bustle of activity. There were labs here, and some sort of excavation that was the equal in cost to the operations in Japan.

The corridor ramped up, to a set of windows. There Kihl stood like a statute in his armor, now even more inhuman than before- the oversized legs ended in caterpillar treads that could flex and allow him to move in different directions, and his arms had been replaced with a set of flexible waldoes. He looked out the window, ignoring Ikari's approach.

Ikari stood beside him and looked out. He blinked a few times.

This wasn't Antarctica.

It was a jungle, ancient and layered in mist, spreading out as far as they eye could see. Heavy palms shook and a flight of alien looking birds took off and flap-flapped into the air, much larger than he realized at first. The trees continued to shake, and Ikari walked to the glass, nearly pressing his face to it. There was a clearing ahead. He looked down on the trees from a rocky outcropping. He could see the facility arching off to the left and right, along some sort of crater.

Something stepped out of the trees. It was enormous, a good twenty feet at the shoulder, moving with an alien, leonine grace on two long legs, swinging its huge head around. For a moment, Ikari fancied that its beady eyes caught him before it swept on, sniffing at the air. It spotted something and charged off at astonishing speed, footfalls so heavy he could feel them. Its tiger-striped gray and green body vanished into the treeline, and Ikari stood for a moment, his heart hammering against his ribs.

"What…" he started, taking a breath, "What in the hell…"

Rokubungi stood next to him. "Some of the local fawna. _Archeopteryx_ and _Tyrannosaurus Rex_."

Ikari leaned on the glass, nearly falling to his knees.

"What is this place?"

Kihl turned to him, a human head set in the broad shoulders of his powered exoskeleton, his eyes hidden beneath a now much sleeker visor.

"An alien and savage land," he said, his voice coming from behind his own lips. "Where life springs eternal. There is something here."

"What is it?"

"The other half of the puzzle," said Kihl. "They key to immortality and absolute power."

"Why am I here?" said Ikari. "It seems you have the construction well in hand."

"You have proved your competence," said Kihl. "It is time you were brought into the inner circle. Leave us, Rokubungi."

The young man nodded and left, without a word, without turning back or a hint in his stride that he resented being left out of the conversation.

"What inner circle?" said Ikari.

"Those who converse with God," said Kihl, "and know His secrets."

"If I remember my Christianity right," said Ikari, "God doesn't like being conversed with."

"No," said Kihl, "but the tables are turned. Now it will not be we who are made in his image, but he who is made in ours. Preparations must be made. I will explain the Scenario and your part in it. You are to be nominated to the Human Instrumentality Committee."

"The what?" said Ikari.

Kihl's chapped lips twisted into a strange, cold smile.

**Near Tokyo-2**

**2010**

Toshiro admired brandy. He swirled his glass and took a mouthful, breathing in through his nose to properly enhance the flavors. The blend he was drinking this evening was extremely complex, and it took his refined palate a moment to sort out all the flavors. He sniffed a hint of blueberry and a bitterness that reminded him of hops, and of course the almost chalky smoke of the fired barrel. He took another sip, just as the gilded double doors to his study blew open and the limp form of one his bodyguards rolled across the floor, spraying his Persian rug with a fine, strongly pumping arterial spray from his throat.

Ikari jumped up, his knee sending a jolt of pain up his thigh, and threw his glass to the floor as he went for the gun in his desk drawer. Another bodyguard backed into the room, firing wildly and shouting into his wrist. Something flashed through the air and the gun flew out of his hand, tumbling across the floor. A second flash lanced across his throat, opening it, and he toppled back over the body of his predecessor, arms flailing, gurgling loudly as he choked on his own lifeblood.

A figure stepped through the door. He was dressed in high, pointed-toe boots and gloves, all black, over a tight bodysuit of fine, green scales, like the mail worn by ancient warriors, over which was layered a black tunic that covered his chest and hung to his knees. Over one shoulder and belted around his waist was a satchel, and he wore a rubbery mask that twisted his features into a perpetual sneer and covered his eyes in yellow lenses. From his head dangled a purple cap, like an old nightcap, that hung down to his waist. Before Toshiro had the time to rack the slide on his gun, the intruder casually, almost without looking, tossed a fine double-bladed knife that buried itself in Toshiro's bicep, and the gun clattered to the floor. There was some sort of launcher built into his glove.

"Evening," the figure rasped, a barely suppressed giggle underlining his words.

Toshiro was trapped; behind him was the floor to ceiling window, and either side, a fine collection of expensive books he hadn't yet had occasion to read. Several of them now had blood on the spines. The intruder leapt over the dead bodies of the guards, seized the desk, and tipped it up with one hand. It flew against the wall and blew apart with a crash, splinters, boards, and drawers flying everywhere. His bottle of brandy thunked on the floor.

The intruder picked it up and took a long pull, spilling some of it over his rubbery chin, and threw it into the wall, where it exploded in a shower of glass.

"W-Who are you?" Toshiro demanded. "Osborn? It can't be."

"No," the figure rasped, "Not Osborn, Toshiro. Norman Osborn is dead."

Ikari pushed back across the floor, grinding broken glass into his robe. He scrabbled to his feet and stumbled backwards, into the wall. The intruder calmly watched him scramble to find the right book. An antique copy of the _Tale of Genji_ toppled to the floor, the pages cut out in the shape of the pistol secreted inside. Toshiro scooped it up, aimed, and fired. The invader leaned out of the way before the shot was even fire, stepping out of the way of Toshiro's wild fire as he strode forward, tilting from side to side at lazy angles, bending his knees. He flicked his hand and from some device built into his glove, a tiny blade spun across the room and sank into Toshiro's arm, and the gun fell to his feet with a thump.

Toshiro sank to one knee, and tried to tug the blade free from his arm, but red hot pain lanced up to his shoulder and he cried out through clenched teeth. The intruder flicked his hand again and buried another blade in the opposite arm, and Toshiro screamed, slumping against the books. The shelf rocked, toppling old volumes over his shoulders.

"Who are you?" he screamed.

The invader seized his collar and dragged him to his feet. "You really don't know, do you?"

"What do you want?" Toshiro wailed, his shoulders twitching as he tried to move his useless arms. The Goblin tossed him across the room as if he weighed nothing at all, and he crashed into the bookcases on the far side. He felt something in his shoulder snap and whimpered as he slid down to the floor. Warmth was spreading across his arms from the wounds, but he felt cold, and started to shiver.

"Please," he begged, "I'm just an old man. I never harmed anyone."

The Goblin fired another blade into his leg, casually, almost indifferently, and Toshiro grasped at it, curling up in a ball. That earned him another in his side, sinking into his flesh below his ribs, freeing a spreading stain of dark blood around it.

"I'll do whatever you want, just don't kill me."

The Goblin fired again, and another blade sank into his calf.

"I'm loyal!" Toshiro screamed, "I've always been loyal!"

The Goblin calmly walked to where he lay and seized his angle, twisting. The bones popped under his grasp, and Toshiro cried out, feebly trying to move his wounded arms as the Goblin walked into the middle of the room, dragging him behind, and rolled him into the ruins of the desk. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small object- a polished metal pumpkin. He twisted the stem with a loud clicking sound and rested it between Toshiro's thighs. Each of the miniature jack-o-lantern's eyes contained a digit, starting at thirty, and began to tick down, twenty-nine, twenty-eight.

"No," Toshiro pleaded, "oh God…"

"Say her name," said the Goblin. "Say it!"

"What?" Toshiro blubbered. "What are you talking about?"

He flicked a spinning blade into the floor next to Toshiro's head and aimed the device square at his forehead.

"Say! Her! Name!"

"Yui," Toshiro whispered.

He broke out laughter, seizing his stomach, his chortles rapidly rising into a shrieking, sibilant wail as he threw his head back and laughed like a madman. Behind him, something rose from the darkness, lighting the study as if from the rising sun. The lights on the Goblin's glider, a set of metal wings around a single jet engine, silhouetted him against the wall. He turned and casually launched more of his blades at the window, shattering the glass, and stepped through it, settling his feet into locks on the glider's wings.

"Goodbye, Toshiro," he cackled. "I'll see you in hell!"

Fifteen. Fourteen…

Toshiro pushed away, dragging blood across the carpet. The pumpkin counted down to twelve.

Then, it exploded.

_To be continued_


	2. Secret Origins, Part 2

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

"**Secret Origins, Part 2"**

* * *

**Tokyo**

**1995**

Fuyutsuki rounded on the lecture hall, turning his chin up. A wall of eyes fell on him. Forty years old, rail thin from a heightened metabolism and a near superhuman tolerance for caffeine, the chair of the Applied Metaphysics department took a personal interest in teaching the most popular and competitive of the freshman philosophy offerings, Applied Metaphysics one.

"As few as twenty years ago, we would have been accused of heresy for standing in this hall, speaking of these matters," Fuyutsuki intoned. The hall had a public address system. He didn't use it. "Thanks to a number of bold pioneers, we have come to realize that the world is far larger and stranger than mankind was willing to believe in the early industrial era, and we must be willing to expand our notions of what is possible. We have struck a balance between-"

A hand shot up.

Fuyutsuki paused. A palpable hush fell on the room as all the eyes turned to the slip of a girl seated in the front row. He waited for the pressure from the rest of the students to push her hand down. Instead, she wagged it a little to defy him. His eyebrow arched. She was quite a sight. He'd known any number of women in his time, although Kozo Fuyutsuki had never been well suited to cohabitation, but he'd never seen someone quite like her. She was no ethereal goddess, but something about her green eyes and high cheekbones was captivating. She was more than the sum of her parts. Unlike the more conservatively dressed students, she wore a rumbled man's dress shirt that was at least two sizes too big, black pants and heavy boots that looked like they belonged on the Moon. She dyed the fringes of her hair a metallic blue, and there was a sparkling ring in her nose that matched the ones in her ears, which were accompanied by a number of other rings. He had a sneaking suspicion that she had more jewelry in places he couldn't see.

"Yes?" he said, finally.

Her hand slumped down. "Pioneers," she said quietly, "like Victor von Doom."

Fuyutsuki breathed in. "Yes, like von Doom. His experiments in the fifties paved the way for the development of some of the more important equations involved in breaching dimensional barriers."

Her question answered, he started to turn.

"But," she said.

He froze and turned back to her, mildly annoyed.

She crossed her legs, bobbing her calf, and shifted in her seat, an almost sexual intensity in her eyes. Perhaps she enjoyed defying old men, or perhaps Fuyutsuki needed to get out more. Either way, it was intriguing.

"He's _Doctor Doom_", said the girl.

Fuyutsuki sighed and rolled his shoulders. "After the Second World War, the Americans recruited Werner von Braun, a major in the SS, to work on their rocket program. True, he was outshined by Reed Richards, but we must remember that knowledge is knowledge. Like power, it has no moral quality of its own. Great men and monsters define themselves by their own actions. If we can take something they created and turn it to the benefit of mankind, all the better."

"So the ends justify the means?"

Fuyutsuki sighed.

She gave him a wicked grin and stretched in her seat, cat-like. The lower buttons of her shirt pulled apart and confirmed that she did, in fact, have a ring in her belly button, an opal on a silver ring pierced through the skin. This drew the attention of several young men around her, and Fuyutsuki realized that he his own cheeks were heating.

"This is a philosophy class," she said in a mock pout.

"Yes," Kozo snapped, taking the opportunity to recover as smoothly as he could. "_My_ philosophy class, Miss…"

"Ikari."

"Indeed. We will be discussing ethics in our next session, as outlined in the syllabus. I presume you read it."

She gave a noncommittal shrug.

He turned back to the expanse of the chalkboard and began drawing a timeline of the development of the scientific method, from the ancients and their magics to the present day, how the practice of the Art evolved into the Art of the Egyptians- Al Khemi, or alchemy, meaning 'of Egypt'- and thus chemistry, algebra (another Arabic loan word) and the scientific method and all that came with it.

"When we decided to shut out certain parts of the human experience in the pursuit of scientific understanding, we made a mistake," said Fuyutsuki.

The Ikari girl nodded and mouthed 'Religion', mostly to herself, and scribbled something in her notes. Fuyutsuki shook his head, trying to remember the next part of the lecture.

"As I was saying, the nascent scientific community was embattled by religion and unreason, and so became almost bitter and fanatical in its pursuit of absolute truth, often times turning away valuable insight or ignoring phenomena until they literally fell into a scientist's lap. For example, it was commonly believed, until one was observed, that meteors were earthly rocks revealed by lightning strikes, and explorers refused to believe that gorillas existed, even though the natives of the area had seen them with their own-"

The girl's hand shot up again. Fuyutsuki gave her an exasperated sigh.

"What about Mokele Mbembe?"

"What?" said Fuyutsuki. "Enlighten me."

Again, every eye in the room was on her.

"An alleged surviving dinosaur in the Congo basin," said the Ikari girl. "Several expeditions searched for it, but all the evidence they found was either highly suspect or useless, like blurry photographs or poor sound recordings. One of the scientists claimed he lost a camera full of clear pictures."

"Fraud is always an issue," said Fuyutsuki. "As a man once said, we should let out minds be open, but not so open our brains fall out."

The girl nodded, genuine respect flashing on her fine features. "I see," she murmured.

He continued the lecture without incident, although he ran a few minutes long and saw some fidgeting in the back row. When the syllabi had been handed out, he waved them away and leaned on the desk in front of the chalkboards, breathing. He'd worked up a sweat. Something about the Ikari girl's questions rather excited him. He hadn't been this intense in a while, despite his personal affection for conducting the introductory classes.

"Professor?"

He turned around. It was her. He was surprised, now that he stood even with her, how short she was, even in her boots. "I wanted to apologize, I didn't mean-"

"To try to show me up in front of my class on the first day? This is an institution of learning, not a prison yard, Miss Ikari."

She wilted.

"It was amazing to see, though. It's always said a teacher's greatest joy is to see a student surpass him. No reason not to start early, I suppose."

She beamed, and his heart skipped a beat, or at least he felt like it did.

"I-I hope you enjoy the class," he stammered. "I'll see you on Thursday, I'm sure."

She nodded and nearly skipped out of the room.

He felt a light punch on his arm. "You filthy, filthy old man."

Kyoko Soryu, his graduate assistant, stood behind him, fists perched on her hips. Where the Ikari girl was all refined elegance hiding beneath her idiosyncratic choices in clothing, Kyoko was model material; tall, angular, her German heritage gifting her with striking copper hair that she wore loose down to her waist. She flipped a heavy lock of it contemptuously over her shoulder.

As if thinking summoned her, the Ikari girl trotted back to the front row.

"I forgot my… ah… my phone," she said, scooping the offending article from her seat.

Fuyutsuki sucked in a breath. He felt the tension in the air between them, like trying to mas the same poles of two magnets together. Kyoko's chin turned up and her features took on a haughty twist. The Ikari girl wilted and darted off, trotting back up and out of the amphitheater. Only when the doors boomed loudly closed did Kyoko release a breath.

"Somebody's jealous," Fuyutsuki said, sotto voce.

Kyoko sneered and gave him another punch in the arm, a little harder this time. "You wish. You need to eat something, old man. You're all bony."

"Hmm," he said, stepping closer to her. "I wonder what I might have."

She held her ground, and remained fixed in place until he cupped the elegant point of her chin in his curled index finger and turned her lips up to meet his.

**Tokyo,**

**1999**

It was raining, and the wipers on Fuyutsuki's little car went thump-thump, thump-thump, slashing water across the windshield in a most unhelpful way. He pulled off the street and behind the line of cars in front of the police station and fumbled with his umbrellas he got out. He saw Yui standing on the sidewalk, his star graduate student. He'd come as soon as she called, but there was something wrong. He held the umbrella over her.

She looked like a drowned dog. In the years since her freshman excesses she'd stopped dying her hair and let it grow out a little, and had abandoned most of the piercings. He wasn't sure, he hadn't checked them all. She also dressed more conservatively, in a sweater and skirt, but her clothes were rumbled and the seam of her jacket was torn.

"You said I needed to bail you out."

She frowned, a genuine pout, her lip trembling a little. "I… it's not for me."

His eyes narrowed. "You lied."

"Please," she said. "It's my boyfriend."

He felt like a knife rammed into his gut, and twisted. He would have doubled over. The umbrella bobbed a little in his hand, shaking away some water, and she flinched.

"It's alright," he said, softly, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Tell me what happened."

"We were in a club, and one of the other guys groped me," she said, almost sheepishly, as though it were her fault.

Fuyutsuki's jaw clenched. "I see. What happened?"

"Gendo hit him," said Yui. "A lot. He might get in trouble. I can't…" she started to sob.

"Let's go."

She looked up. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Fuyutsuki sighed. "You'd know I'd move the moon for you, Yui."

She smiled that glowing smile of hers, and it was like the sun peeked out of the clouds for just a moment. The knife only twisted further. It was the smile a girl gave to her father, not the kind a woman gives a man. He was just an old man she depended on. He sighed as he followed her up the steps, shielding her from the rain. True, she may not have meant that smile the way he wanted, but that didn't mean he couldn't keep it the way he wished. It was, after all, given freely.

"Who is he?" said Fuyutsuki. "You never mentioned him. Another student?"

"No, he's one of my father's men," said Yui. "His name is Gendo."

Fuyutsuki started his foot slipping on the concrete. "I know that name. One of his bodyguards."

"Yeah," Yui said sheepishly. "He's a sweetheart if you get to know him. He really is."

Fuyutsuki paused at the doors to the police station. "A sweetheart," he said, drolly.

"I don't need your permission," she snapped, harshly. Her expression softened, but she didn't give him an inch. "You'd have done the same thing."

"True," said Fuyutsuki, "but I'd have gotten away with it."

Her anger melted into a knowing smirk. He pushed the door open for her, ostensibly to shield her form the rain, but really for the opportunity to move a little closer to her. A silly thought slipped through his mind. She smelled wonderful with rainwater in her hair. Fuyutsuki closed his umbrella and followed her to the desk. There was half an hour of silent waiting, Yui growing more and more agitated, then a burly policeman walked Fuyutsuki to the desk where he wrote the check for the boy's bail. He sat down next to Yui while they brought him out of lockup.

"Thank you," she whispered. "My father will get him out of this if I ask, I just… I didn't want to have to call from here."

"Why don't you have a car come for you?" said Fuyutsuki. "I'll take him home. You look tired, and I know you have a paper due soon."

She sighed, and stood up, pulling out her cell phone.

The boy walked out. He was no boy, Fuyutsuki realized; he had five years on Yui, maybe more. He had his hair cut in a deliberately rakish mop and his eyes were a little overlarge, his chin pointed. He was by no means especially handsome, but Fuyutsuki knew the time. When he'd had more dark hair on his head than gray he could describe himself the same way. They were even of a height.

"Where is she?" he said at once.

"I sent her home with her father's men. I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I wanted to know why my student's boyfriend is getting into fights and getting himself arrested."

The boy shortened the distance between them, and tensed. Fuyutsuki relaxed, focusing on his movements. If he was going to throw a punch, he telegraphed it. Badly. Fuyutsuki shifted a little, in case he needed to defend himself, ready to slip into the practiced forms and teach the little shit a lesson about respecting his elders.

"Some asshole grabbed her ass. I taught him a lesson."

"Did he get arrested?"

Gendo Rokubungi blinked. "No…"

"You did," Fuyutsuki smirked.

"I-"

"Could have been subtler, handled it better. Open aggression is the mark of a hotheaded idiot, boy. I'm starting to wonder if you're the right sort of person for Yui to spend her time with."

Gendo growled right in his face. "What the hell business is it of yours?"

Fuyutsuki shrugged. "I could make a few phone calls. Does Ikari know that one of his thugs is dating his daughter?"

Gendo froze, his face twisting. "If he told me to back off, she'd know. If he told her, she'd hate him for it. Either way, she'd end up with me anyway."

Fuyutsuki nodded, rolling his shoulders a little. "I see how it is. Let me be plainer. If you hurt her, I'll break your neck, and I won't get caught, either. Now get in the fucking car. I'm driving you home."

**The Antarctic Ocean**

**2000**

"What the hell are you doing here?" said Fuyutsuki.

Gendo pulled down the hood of his parka and shrugged "I could say the same."

They stood on the prow of a heavy icebreaker, currently pulling out of the port at the Antarctic facility. A friend named Katsuragi had invited Fuyutsuki to see the work site, part of an offer to induct one of the leading lights in applied metaphysics to join the work of the Human Instrumentality Committee. He was glad to be leaving the damned place.

No one told him there would be dinosaurs. He never thought he'd need to use that phrase, either.

"Liaising with the Committee for Ikari's industrial concern," said Gendo.

Fuyutsuki immediately knew that was a half-truth, if not a lie.

"Also, I wanted to give you this."

He handed Fuyutsuki an envelope. For once, it wasn't a catalog envelope full of fresh entanglements with whatever these people were doing down here. Despite the name, he always thought _applied_ metaphysics was mostly theoretical. After all, no one really needed to use any of the more esoteric equations. The power requirements, and the implications, were absurd. He shook his head and looked at the envelope. It was frost blue, and addressed to Fuyutsuki in Yui's handwriting, sweeping and joyful with a little heart drawn beside it. He swallowed and peeled it open, and read it.

"You…" Fuyutsuki breathed, "You're married."

"Yes. I took her name," said Gendo. "It's Ikari now."

Fuyutsuki's hands trembled. A dozen scenarios flashed through his mind, half of them involving beating the man to a pulp and the other half involving shoving him over the rail into the drink. He did neither, his hands sinking to his sides.

"Congratulations," he murmured. "I'll have to tell her I'm sorry I missed it."

"Quite," said Gendo. "Don't feel too bad, I had to rush off before our honeymoon. There's something I haven't mentioned, though."

"What?"

Gendo smiled ever so slightly, the delight plain in his tightly controlled expression. "Yui is pregnant. We're due in September."

Fuyutsuki felt like he'd been shot. He sagged against the rail, and the wedding announcement fluttered out of his hand, drifting off into the wind. It merged with the snow and vanished into the frigid waters somewhere, as cold as Fuyutsuki's gut. He gathered himself, standing up after a time. Gendo was still standing there, frozen like a statue. His smirk became an open grin.

"I win," he said, turned on his heel, and walked off.

Fuyutsuki wandered along the deck. He considered going to his cabin. Watching the ocean roll was making him sick. He pulled a door open and stepped inside, and found himself leaning on a metal railing. The cargo hold of the ship spread out beneath him, all sort of equipment and biological samples. He jogged down the stairs, stomping the bits of snow from his heavy boots, and looked around. He was alone.

He lifted one of the tarps. There was an unmarked crate underneath. There were a number of crates. The largest tarp was at the far end, stretched from one side of the hold to another, obscuring something enormous. Fuyutsuki threaded through the cargo hold, careful not to touch anything. He passed a few cages, which amounted to heavy metal crates with holes drilled in them for air. Something snarled in one of them as he passed, and he rushed away from it, nearly falling into the heavy tarp that cordoned off part of the hold. He found his watch to the edge and pulled it back, slightly, peering through.

His bowels turned to water, and his stomach heaved.

There was an apparatus bolted to the deck, heavy steel tubing where it was in contact with the creature's body. Its proportions were a bit off. It was too large, for one, and the eyes were too big, the braincase distorted. The animal bound to the deck of the cargo hold with heavy tubes of steel was not a tyrannosaur, but it was clearly a close relative, and larger at that. It was asleep, its enormous ribcage expanding and gradually contracting.

Fuyutsuki drew in a breath. The creature's skin was heavily mottled, and rough, almost like an old burn scar, a deep red now faded to a brown with hints here and there that it once had a tiger-striped pattern to it. Its eyes were lidded but not closed, suggesting heavy sedation. In spite of himself, he slipped inside, giving the head, even though it was caged and muzzled, a wide berth. He walked down its length, amazed. He'd put its size at fifteen, maybe twenty meters long, and even with its body hunkered down and its legs forced under it like a perched bird, its arched back was high over his head.

He put his hand on it skin, tentatively, shocked by how hot it was. The creature breathed slowly, rumbling in and out. Fuyutsuki could feel the beating of its heart, a heavy drum-drum, less than once a second. He pulled his hand back and flexed his fingers, amazed. It was a dinosaur. A _dinosaur._ He made his way back to where he'd parted the tarps, meaning to leave the way he came in.

The eye was open. Huge and yellow and slitted like a cat's, it followed him as he moved. He could actually feel the heart beat through the floor.

"Easy now," he whispered, as he would to a stray dog. "I won't…"

He fought the urge to run. The eye followed him until he pushed back against the edge of the tarp and felt it parting around his shoulders.

"Easy," he repeated. "Easy."

The eye fixed on him. The ends of its mouth curled up, exposing a flash of teeth the size of steak knives. Fuyutsuki trembled, until the meaning of the gesture dawned on him.

The tyrannosaur was smiling at him.

He bolted.

He didn't stop running until he was outside, panting and leaning on his knees. He eventually made it to the rail and leaned over the edge, breathing hard into the frozen wind.

**Hakone Installation**

**2001**

The only words in Gendo Ikari's mind were _I have a son._

The tiny little creature lay against Yui's breast, tiny and pink with a full head of hair, his eyes tightly closed. She cradled him as if the whole world meant to steal him from her, and he slept in silence, his mouth making tiny motions against nothing. He touched the warm, astonishingly soft skin of his son's arm and his mouth fell open in an instinctive, irresistible smile. He had a son. It amazed him how lucky he was, what he'd sacrificed to reach this point.

Yui's eyes were lidded, her voice dreamy. "Has it started yet?"

"You mean, the contact experiment. They should have started a few hours ago. We'll be safe. This place was designed to withstand-"

A silent tension entered the room. Gendo turned and saw Yui's father step in, leaving his mistress at the door. At least the man had some taste. Gendo gave him a curt nod, all the courtesy he was willing to spare, and stepped aside.

"It's a boy," he murmured, and for once Gendo did not hate him. There was real joy in his eyes. "What have you called him?"

"Shinji," Yui said softly, rocking him a little in her arms. "His name is Shinji."

"That's a good name," the old man said, leaning over her. "My God he is beautiful. He favors you, Yui."

She smiled a real smile. Yui lived for praise from her father, as much as she went out of her way to drive him insane with her antics. Sometimes, Gendo thought the reason she'd become one of the world's most preeminent scientists was simply to piss him off. She'd never played the Yamato Nadeshiko, that was for sure. He took the child from her, cradling him in his arms, and Gendo moved a step closer.

"Relax, boy," he sighed. "I've held a baby a few times."

Gendo's teeth clicked shut. Many of those babies were his, most of them didn't have his surname. He glanced at the woman waiting by the door. Pretty in the way Toshiro liked, and younger than Yui. He should have been ashamed of himself. Yui saw her but stared through her, and the girl coughed uncomfortably. Gendo flinched; he was thinking of a twenty or twenty one year old woman as a girl. Was he that old?

Eventually, Toshiro made his apologies and handed the child back, just in time for Fuyutsuki to make his entrance, ducking past Yui's father with a curt, respectful nod. He made his way to the bed quickly and all but demanded that he could hold the child, cradling him. He slept peacefully in the crook of Fuyutsuki's arm.

"I never pictured you holding a baby," Yui said wryly.

Fuyutsuki stared at the child and swallowed, hard. "Me neither."

Yui blinked at that, and Gendo raised an eyebrow. He returned the child and shook Gendo's hand.

"I'd offer a box of cigars, but neither of us smokes."

Gendo snorted and squeezed Yui's shoulder. She collapsed into the bed. "I'm exhausted. Could-"

Fuyutsuki stiffened. Gendo caught the minute flaring of his nostrils. He smelled… Gendo smelled it too. A very unique perfume, the flowers sort of underlined by a peppery, cinnamon smell, a hint of spice behind the sweetness.

Kyoko Soryu swept into the room, dressed in a black turtleneck and slacks. She had her hair tightly bound in a ponytail that resembled copper wire, if copper could be as soft as silk. She looked at Yui with her severely beautiful features and smiled. She touched the child's head and he looked at her, his eyes just opening a bit.

"Congratulations, Yui," she murmured. "I'm so happy for you."

Gendo blinked. The last time he saw Kyoko was at an official function, and he was accompanying Ikari the elder. She'd always been a rail thin woman, built along sleek, almost feline lines, but she sported a sizeable, firm bulge in her midsection. She rested her hands on it, running her pale fingers over the black fabric stretched over it.

"When are you due?" said Yui.

"December," she said. She made a very precise, very deliberate glance at Yui. "Victor wanted me to be here in case of a problem."

Yui nodded.

Gendo saw an involuntary shudder through Fuyutsuki, and it mirrored his own. No matter how casually she spoke of him, Victor meant Victor von Doom, dictator of Latveria and perennial enemy of the one-time Fantastic Four, a war criminal to some, a visionary to others, and Kyoko was carrying his child. She moved in her graceful, predatory way, aiming her swollen belly as if it were the prow of a battleship. She offered her hands to Yui and she passed little Shinji over.

"I may still be here when I deliver," said Kyoko, glancing at Fuyutsuki again. "I wonder if little Shinji will be friends with my daughter."

"Daughter," said Yui. "You're sure?"

She nodded. "We mean to name her Asuka."

Gendo considered that. Asuka. The fragrance of tomorrow.

Kyoko rocked the child back and forth gently, murmuring softly to him in German.

Gendo caught a bit of it.

"…sie wird Ihre Königin zu sein…"

After a time, she handed Shinji back and Yui was grateful to settle his weight on her chest. Kyoko could be difficult at times, but there was something gentle in her, something that only came out when she was in the presence of children. She stole another glance at Fuyutsuki and her hardened mask returned.

"Thank you," she murmured, and left the room, giving Gendo a curt nod.

Fuyutsuki moved by his side. "Did you hear that?"

"What?" said Gendo.

"What she said. Something about someone 'being his queen'."

"Gendo?" Yui whispered.

He snapped to her side. "Yes, dear?"

She smiled weakly. "Would you mine giving me a few minutes alone with the professor?"

**Tokyo-3**

**2004**

"You don't have to do this," Gendo whispered, his voice cracking. He was not a man to plead, to beg, to lose his composure, on any day but today.

Yui looked up at him and smiled a crooked smile, somehow angelic in her bulky contact suit. It looked like something she might wear in outer space, complete with a bulbous helmet she carried under the crook of her arm. She brushed her hair back with her gloved hand and blew her bangs out of her eyes and leaned towards him, pursing her lips, and he was drawn down to kiss her like a magnet.

"I'm the Commander," he whispered, "I could order you to wait, to find someone else."

Her eyes quivered a little, and she bit her lip, just slightly. "It has to be me. You know it does."

"It doesn't," he begged, "It doesn't have to be you. We can stop this, we-"

"I have to," she snapped, stomping her foot. "If I don't, they'll know we're on to them. If they knew we had any idea what the Scenario truly entailed we'd both be dead, or worse. What if they took Shinji from us?"

Gendo rammed his fist into the wall, and she jumped. He welcomed the lance of pain in his hand, like a lighthouse in a sea of grief.

"Kihl's plan is going to fail anyway. When Doom gets wind of this… god, if they want Kyoko to attempt a contact…"

"There's still hope I might make it," she said sharply, touching his cheek. "You sound like you've given up on me."

He rested his hand on hers. "Never."

She smiled. "You have to trust me, Gendo. I know what I'm doing. It's for Shinji."

"I know," he croaked, surprised at the tension in his voice. Blinking, he pulled his glasses off. "Sometimes, I…"

"What?"

"Nothing," Gendo said, stepping away.

"Tell me, Gendo."

"Ever since Shinji was born, I… I was afraid that you'd put me ahead of him, that I fell to second place in your heart."

She stared at him. He helmet clattered on the floor. Her hands shot out and seized his collar, pulling him close.

"He'll need you know more than ever. He'll need his father. I still love you, Gendo. More than you could ever understand. He's _our son_. Yours and mine. We _made_ him. We made life in all this death, you and me. Don't you see how wonderful that is?"

Gendo's mouth was too dry to speak.

"I…" he started.

"He doesn't compete for my love, Gendo. He is our love, what we made together. Never forget that. Never let him go. They'll try to harm him, try to use him against you. Kihl is a monster, you know that. You have to protect our son. If you love me as you say you do, you'll make sure he's safe."

Gendo blinked away the tears. "You're talking like you're already gone."

She let go of him. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I… I might make it. There's hope."

There was a knock on the locker room door. Naoko pushed it open, her face a blank mask. "Doctor Ikari, it's time."

Yui touched Gendo's cheek and turned, scooping up her helmet. Gendo stifled a bitter, snorting laugh as he realized how incredible the contact suit made her ass look. He followed her out, glad that Fuyutsuki had agreed to watch Shinji during the experiment. The Prototype waited in the cage, its hunched, inhuman form looming over the walkway in front of it. The armor was still only partly in place and the biological tissue underneath was wrapped in bandages, all soaked through with blood and LCL where the skin grafts and stem cell lattice were taking hold. It stank of bleeding and death, and he hated it. Yui didn't look up as she walked past, her face becoming an unflappable mask.

He'd seen that look before, usually when her father was present.

They stopped at the platform.

"We have to maintain decorum in front of-"

"Fuck that," Gendo snarled, and kissed her. He threw his arm around her waist and pulled her up onto the balls of her feet and kissed her hard, as if it might be the last time.

When he released her, she staggered, blushing, and headed up the gantry, turning so quickly that she likely thought he couldn't see her tears.

Gendo slowly made his way up to the lab, a small structure overhanging the testing cage. Naoko and her technicians were there, already in their places. Gendo stood in front of the monitor, watching Yui awkwardly move into place with her bulky helmet, twisting to pick up the cables and attach them to her arms and sides where they jacked into the contact suit. Naoko watched in silence, an alien, haunted look on her face. She touched the microphone button in front of the monitor.

"Ready, Doctor?"

Yui hesitated, a tiny, shaking motion, and then raised her hands and gave a thumbs up. She leaned back into the seat, and adjusted herself.

"Beginning LCL injection."

Gendo looked out at the Evangelion shuddered. Its neck was, effectively, broken, a section of vertebrae replaced by the entry plug system. The plug and the suit would protect Yui from discorporating and being absorbed by the core, at least in theory. He knew there was a strong chance the system would fail.

Naoko looked around. "LCL at initialization levels. Electrolyze."

Yui jolted on the screen as a tiny current was run through the fluid around. It grew less dense and turned transparent. It was theoretically possible to breathe it, if it was oxygenated, but they hadn't gotten that far. He folded his arms and watched.

"I can feel it," Yui said, her voice tinny on the speakers.

"Excellent," said Naoko. "Are you ready?"

Yui gave a thumbs up. Naoko stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Initialize synchrograph. Set plug depth to ten percent."

The entry plug shifted, grinding deeper into the creature, and Yui gasped.

"I feel it," she said, breathless.

"Synchrograph approaching stage one connection," one of the techs said in a rote voice, "Stage one achieved. Approaching stage two. Minor fluctuations detected, within parameters."

Naoko gave the screen a worried look. "Rig for abort."

"No," said Yui, "Continue to second stage."

Naoko glanced at him and Gendo remained impassive. He nodded slightly. It was Yui's decision, always her choice. She knew what she was doing.

"Keep the abort ready," said Naoko. "We're going for second stage connections."

The techs nodded, and Naoko tensed.

"Second stage connection established. Anticipating third stage connection in five seconds. Synchrograph stable."

Naoko nodded.

"I feel it," Yui murmured, "God it's in _pain_. It… it feels the armor, it hurts, I…" she trailed off, grunting, "I…"

"Third stage connection established," the tech said, his voice flat with astonishment. "Synchronized at twelve percent."

Naoko's eyes flashed, for just a moment. She looked worried. "Stable?"

"Stable," the tech agreed. "I, wait… there's a fluctuation. Plug depth increased!"

There was a grinding sound and the Eva groaned, its limp body jerking in the supports. The head lifted up and there was a snarling sound as the bandages shredded apart around its misshapen mouth. The plug slammed deeper with an audible crunching sound, and the tech look around in a panic.

"It's going too deep, we're not ready for this!"

"Blow the bolts," said Naoko, "Get her out. Now."

"Severing the connection now might-"

Yui screamed.

"Get her _out!" _Gendo roared, dragging the man out of the way. He rammed his hand down on the abort button, pounding it until the plastic cracked.

"It's not working!"

Naoko pushed beside him, shoving the tech out of the way. "My God, there's nervous system growth in the control circuits. It won't let us eject the plug."

"What?" Gendo shouted, shaking her by the shoulders.

"I can't… we can't get her out."

"No!" Gendo screamed, shaking her. "Do something! _Kill the fucking thing!_"

"I can't!" Naoko shrieked, tearing out of his grasp, her eyes wet with tears.

"Gendo," Yui whispered, her voice fuzzed by the speakers.

He ran to the monitor. "I'm here."

"Gendo, it's alright."

"No," he shook his head, "no, we can get you out. We'll fix it."

"I can't hold on," she said, her voice cracking. "I love you, Gendo. Tell Shinji. Tell him for me. Promise me, Gendo."

"I promise," he sobbed, leaning his head on the monitor.

She let out a sound, like a long, defeated sigh, and the synchrograph went blank.

**Tokyo-3**

**Later, the Same Day**

Gendo Ikari sat alone in a room. In his hands was a VHS tape. His name was written on the label. It was on the bed when he returned home. Yui must have left it for him. He sat on the edge of their small bed that was always just large enough, and held it in his hands and stared at it. Shinji was still with Fuyutsuki, asleep the last time he called. When he'd composed himself he realized he had no idea how to tell the boy that his mother went to work and would never come back. He held the tape in his trembling hands and swallowed, hard. He pulled his sleeve across his mouth, already crusted with dried mucous and tears. He'd wept in public, in front of Naoko Akagi, and he didn't care. Yui was gone. The light had gone out, and there was a hollow place in his chest.

He turned on the television. It was already set to static. He turned on the VCR, and Yui's face popped up, staring intently into the camera. She put it down, on the bedside table a few feet away from where he now sat. She sat on the bed in an old band t-shirt and drew her legs up in front of her, her pale, silky thighs as distant to him now as a half remembered dream. She leaned her chin on her knees and stared into space for a while, and then pushed her hair back behind her ear. Her eyes glistened with tears.

"Gendo," she murmured, and then louder, "Gendo, my husband, my love. If you're seeing this, it means I died in the contact experiment. We both knew this was a possibility."

He broke out in a fresh sob to quiet himself, biting his hand.

Yui looked at the camera. "I…" her voice tightened, "I h-have to focus. I have things I have to say and I have to make sure I say them before…"

Her eyes squeezed tightly shut and she turned away, biting her lip, shaking with a suppressed sob. After a while, she took a deep breath and looked back into the camera. "There are things we have to do. Shinji needs your help and guidance, Gendo, more than you could ever know. I've already discussed this matter with Fuyutsuki. I didn't want you to worry, so I never told you."

His stomach froze, turned to a cold ball in his guts, and he became very still.

"I… I was always afraid you'd reject me if I told you the truth," she whispered, sniffing. "I kept it a secret. It's not very impressive, I… I should just show you."

She picked up a pen and held it on the flat of her hand. It teetered a little, nearly tumbling off the rounded edge of her palm, and then slowly rose, hovering in midair as she grunted in concentration. It slapped into her hand and tumbled off, bounced off the bed, and was gone.

"I first found out when I was about thirteen. Father had me tested, and… I was forbidden to use my gift. I took drugs to suppress it. I think it's why they wanted me for the program. I…"

She looked down at the bed. "I'm a mutant," she spat, as though it were a curse.

Her head rose. "I knew if I had a child there was a significant chance that my child would carry the gene, too. I had Shinji tested in secret. No one knows but he and I, until I made this tape this morning. He… our son has the x-gene. We don't know how it will express itself, or when… but Shinji is a mutant, Gendo."

She chewed her lip for a moment, her eyes glistening with tears. "I hate myself for never telling you. I'm so sorry," she whispered, and then looked up again. "They'll know. They'll test him. The pilots, for the Evas, I think they have to be mutants. I think Kyoko has a power, too, but she never said anything. I'm afraid, Gendo. I don't want them to take our son. You have to protect him. You have to save him," she sobbed, wiping her eyes with her thumbs. "Please, Gendo. I'm begging you."

Her head fell and she sobbed into her arms for a while.

"I'm so sorry," she said again. "Please don't hate me. I love you."

He touched his fingers to the screen. His voice cracked. "I love you, too."

"You have to destroy the tape."

He nodded, as if she were there.

"There's something under the pillow for you. Keep it. Please."

"Good…" the word came out as a strangled gasp, "Goodb… I'm sorry, I can't."

She leapt to her feet and the camera whirled, the image spinning.

Gendo ejected the cassette, and rested it on the bed. Very calmly, he stood up, walked to the wastebasket, and tossed it on the bare bottom, not caring if the plastic cracked. He picked up the can, walked into the kitchen, and found a pack of matches, struck a match, and touched the flame to the plastic corner of the cassette, and set the whole thing out on their apartment balcony. He stopped as he walked past Shinji's room, a mess, toys spread everywhere on the floor around where he'd sat when Yui took his hand and led him out that morning.

Under her pillow was a lock of hair. It was old enough to have a faded blue fringe at the tips of the hairs, and was bound in a simple white ribbon. He smelled it but it had no scent and he put it in his pocket and picked up the phone to call Fuyutsuki.

He answered on the second ring.

"You know," said Gendo.

"Yes," said Fuyutsuki. His voice was flat, empty.

"I'm coming for my son," said Gendo. "We need to talk."

**Tokyo-3**

**2010**

There is a bar called _The Two Thieves_.

Gendo sat down in the bar and waited. He wore no glasses and was dressed in an old hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and Yui's lock of hair, wrapped in a plastic bag, was tucked under his shirt on a lanyard. He nervously drummed the table, waiting. He pulled the hood down and watched the seedy sorts that came in and out of the bar. Some were there to drink, others, as he was, there to transact. He had a gun but knew it would probably serve no purpose if it came to that. It was hard to find this place that constantly moved, and harder still to find Ryoji Kaji.

The man walked in the door, looking around and smiling brightly in his disheveled suit that marked him as a man after Gendo's own heart. One of the tails hung over his waistband and his tie was loose, his jacket open and artfully crooked, but it was all immaculately tailored and pressed, an artifice of sloppiness that only a fool would take at face value. He put his hands in his pockets and walked over to Gendo's table, nodding at the bartender and several others. He dropped into the seat opposite Gendo, deliberately looking away from the door.

"Do you have the merchandise?" Gendo murmured, looking around.

Kaji shrugged. "Yeah, I have it, ready for pickup as agreed."

"Where is it?"

"We'll get to that."

Gendo's jaw tightened.

"I trust your money. I don't trust you."

"I'm not interested in your business activities, Kaji. I want what I paid for."

"See, what makes me curious, is why. It's a dangerous thing I had to move for you."

Gendo sat back and folded his hands in front of his face. "Revenge."

"Revenge? That's it? See, the way I see it, revenge isn't a very profitable endeavor."

"We had our terms," said Gendo. "Half up front, half on completion. The remainder of the funds are held in escrow and will be transferred to your Swiss account as soon as I have the merchandise."

"I don't doubt it," said Kaji. "You don't strike me as the type to pull a double cross or do anything by halves. What interests me is your, ah, position, _Commander_."

"Is this a blackmail attempt?" said Gendo.

"No, not at all," said Kaji, grinning. "It's a job application. Something tells me you're going to need a man of my skills again in the future. Money isn't what I'm looking for. It's all about connections in this business, connections. A man with your authority could be… useful to a man in my trade, and I think I've proved my skills. Do you think anyone else could have found what you were looking for?"

Gendo's lips tightened into a thin smile. "I don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing I could do for a thief."

Kaji leaned very close, and his voice became low and dangerous. "I'm not stupid, Ikari. I know why you wanted this stuff, and I know what you're planning. I want in." He looked around. "Guys like us, we live in the shadows and get the scraps, while your bosses consolidate the real power for themselves. The masked vigilantes weren't the losers in the war, my kind and our fathers and grandfathers were. There's no room for us in the new world order."

"What do you really want?" said Gendo.

"The truth," said Kaji, leaning back. "I want to know who's behind it all."

Gendo smiled. "That, I have in spades. I want my merchandise, Kaji. I suggest you give it to me before I fail or forget to make a phone call after our transaction that is very important to your health."

Kaji paled. "I see. I underestimated you, Ikari. Word is you're half thug, half bureaucrat. If anybody should have this gear, it's you."

He pulled out a slip of paper and slid it across the table. "A shipping container at the dock. It's there, it's secure. The codes for entry are here. I'll call to confirm receipt of the goods. Good night, Commander."

Kaji got up without a word, nodded again to the stocky bartender, and weaved through the crowd and out.

Gendo waited for a time, stood up, and walked out, thrusting his hands in the pocket of his sweatshirt. He looked around as he left the seedy bar, keeping both eyes open for Nerv or Seele personnel following.

**Nerv Headquarters**

**2012**

"You're late."

Ritsuko flinched. Five years, and the first thing her mother said to her was "You're late." She graduated in the top of her class in three years, earned a medical doctorate _and_ a Ph.D in engineering, and the first words out of her mother's mouth on seeing her were "You're late."

She shrugged, running her fingers through her hair. She consciously wore it longer than her mother did, even if it was in a clipped, economical bob, and she'd bleached it blonde. It suited her light complexion, or so she was told. A man had told her that, and she had little time for such things, except for him. She pushed such thoughts from her mind. Naoko Akagi had a way of reading her, seeing past her eyes to the truth of her thoughts. She stared into Ritsuko's gaze now, steadily, haughtily.

"I missed you," said Naoko.

Ritsuko blinked. That was new.

"I missed you, too," Ritsuko blurted, started.

Naoko touched her sleeve. It was a welcome point of familiarity. She walked through the lobby of Nerv Headquarters warily, as if the expansive space would swallow her. On the lowest level of the pyramid, the walls were all glass and slightly tilted. She met her mother on a platform surrounded by screens displaying all sorts of information about the organization. The place had the feel of an ultra-slick modern museum or hotel. Naoko shrugged.

"It's a lot to take in at first, I know. Do you know why I asked you here?"

Ritsuko shrugged. "To catch up?"

It was a little too far. Naoko eyed her, and sighed. "Something like that. I was hoping you would join the team. I need…" she lowered her voice. "I want someone trustworthy I can work with. There's no one better than you."

Ritsuko realized she could take that as an insult, but she decided against it. They walked to the elevators.

"You make it sound dangerous," said Ritsuko.

She looked around, her eyes widening. "No, no, not like that. My work here is my legacy, and I want to pass my legacy on to you. You understand that, don't you?"

Ritsuko nodded.

"What I'm about to show you is classified. I wouldn't risk it if I didn't know that you'll accept the job I'm offering. You will accept, won't you?"

Ritsuko stepped into the elevator with her, and the doors slid shut. It was strangely smooth, with no sense of motion after she pressed the button. Naoko rubbed her shoulders as it sank lower and lower. As the doors opened, a rancid smell wafted through. Ritsuko sniffed a few times. It smelled a very great deal like blood. She walked out a step behind her mother, looking around. The corridor the elevator opened onto seemed nondescript, until the pair turned down a side hallway and stepped towards an airlock.

Ritsuko blinked. Her mother tapped in a code at the panel by the big door and it slid open with a soft whispering sound, and they stepped inside. It closed, the air exchanged with a rush, and they stepped through. The blood smell was intense now, like copper hanging in the air. Ritsuko started, stumbled, and nearly fell.

The room they walked into now was enormous, two hundred feet straight up to a ceiling so high it was obscured by a fog. Naoko looked up at it.

"The cage has its own weather system," she said.

She was looking anywhere but at the three massive chambers that drew Ritsuko's eyes. She walked forward, mouth agape, eyes wide, her hands twitching at her sides. She'd never imagined anything like this. There were three of them, three huge tanks that towered over her like skyscrapers. Workmen in orange jumpsuits moved around the floor of the huge structure, riding on electric carts, going about their business as if the giants behind them were invisible. Each stood behind a massive pane of some material that couldn't be glass, locked to the wall. Lithe, thin, and hunched, the word _robot_ didn't seem to fit them. Humanoid, each leaned forward with a sort of insectoid countenance. One had a single staring eye, while the other had four, and a pronounced chin that reminded her of an insect's proboscis. Standing in the center was the tallest and largest of them, slightly bigger than the others, its face more demon that insect, reminiscent of an ancient warrior's lacquered helmet. Ritsuko took a step forward and nearly tripped over a cable running along the floor.

The huge panels, she saw, were designed to move, set in tracks. Some sort of elevator-scaffold sat in front of each, ready to rise up and down. There were divers in the tanks, and she saw the spark of welding here and there, sending bubbles to the surface. She stared into the eyes of the middle giant, the one with the horn, and had a sudden, uneasy feeling that it was aware, watching her.

Naoko rubbed her arms. "The lab is this way."

Something about her mother's behavior bothered her. She'd never acted like this before. She was almost… meek. She was afraid of something. Ritsuko sniffed the air, gagged on the blood smell, and shook her head.

"You get used to it," Naoko said, absently. "It's LCL."

"What is it?" said Ritsuko.

"A breathable, nutrient rich liquid we use to facilitate the growth of the Evas."

"Growth?" said Ritsuko.

"They're cyborgs."

Ritsuko shuddered. That thing, those things, they were alive after all. Mother led her across the cage, following a yellow line on the floor. It took quite a while. On the other side was another elevator, and after that, the lab. The room was surprisingly cramped, full of little touches. Piles of schematics and printouts everywhere, more printouts, and the cups of coffee. Naoko would always pour herself a cup of coffee, let it go cold, and get another one until there was a forest of Styrofoam cups springing up on every surface.

"The MAGI system," said Naoko. "You've heard of it."

"Of course," said Ritsuko. "You want me to work on _that?"_

"Yes," said Naoko. "You'll start as my assistant. I want you to know every line of code, every nut and bolt in the main nodes. I want you to know them as intimately as I do."

Ritsuko's jaw worked silently. Finally she managed, "Of course. When do we start?"

"Now," said Naoko. "I've already secured quarters for you. I can have your things moved, if you like."

"Mother," said Ritsuko. "What is this place? What are those things? What are they _for?"_

"They're weapons," said Naoko. "There's going to be a war."

**Somewhere in Kamchatka**

**2014**

Ritsuko moaned softly. There was a bright light in her eyes. She thought she might be dying. She tried to move, but failed. Part of the airplane seat was still strapped to her body, the safety belts crossing over her chest in an X between her breasts. There was a sharp cut on her face, above her eye, a dull pain that melded with the other aches and injuries she felt. Blood welled from the cut and poured down over her eye. She could taste it, and smell it, and her eye was glued shut, caked gore mingled with her eyelashes. With her good eye she looked around. From the bend in her forearm, it was probably broken. She tried to move it, but the shooter of pain up her arm made her gasp for breath, and this prompted a second surge of pain from her side.

After a while, something very disconcerting occurred to her. She swallowed, hard, and focused. She quickly pushed all doubt aside and drew the only rational conclusion.

She couldn't feel her legs.

"Oh God," she breathed, gargling through the blood.

She tried to sort out what happened. There was screaming, and the plane tipped drunkenly to the side. She thought she saw the contrail from a missile, but it was fuzzy. Everything after the world started to spin was a painful blur. It was reasonably certain she would die. She heard a buzzing noise and shifted a little, letting out a scream that turned into a strangled gasp. Her phone, somehow, had survived the crash. The screen, though broken, flashed MOTHER.

It flashed until it went dead.

She turned slightly. She could see clear sky through the belly of the plane. Outside, she heard footfalls and the sound of harsh, Russian speech. She decided it was a time to pass out.

Her eyes fluttered open. She was staring into a concrete floor. She realized she was numbed, probably by a local anesthetic. She turned her head slightly, only for someone to grasp the back of her head and hold it down, pushing her face into a padded ring. Looking with her eyes, she saw legs in surgical scrubs. She realized she could feel her back being spread open, and twitched. There was some quick, sharp speech in Russian, and someone reached under the table with a rubber gas mask.

Ritsuko blinked her eyes open and froze. The ceiling overhead was decided unfamiliar. Bare concrete, it had been stained by age, or by something else. A single bare light bulb hung over her head, buzzing. She looked to her left, letting her eyes focus, away from the wall. Sitting next to her was a man in surgical scrubs. He was aging and mostly bald, dark of complexion and rather small of stature. Clasped between his hands was a set of beads, and he appeared to be praying. When Ritsuko turned her head, he sat up and pushed a pair of round wire spectacles up his nose, which looked to have been broken several times. There was a gap in his teeth when he smiled, where one had been knocked out.

"You are awake," he said, his accent almost too thick.

"Yeah," Ritsuko rasped.

"Here," he said, offering her water. She took the straw in her mouth, and it was tepid but a blessed relief that made it easier to swallow the next gulp before he pulled it away.

"Not so much. More in a moment."

She nodded. "Where am I?"

"Siberia," the man said, folding his hands. Ritsuko studied them. No callouses, and unlike the rest of him, no signs of abuse. A doctor, then.

"You're a doctor."

"A surgeon, yes. My name is Sergei Yegorov."

She nodded. "You're a prisoner."

He sighed. "Yes. I was taken captive some months ago. I provide medical services for Koschei's prisoners."

"Who?" said Ritsuko. "That name sounds familiar."

"Perhaps you have heard it. It is from a Russian folk tale. It is not his real name, I am thinking. He runs this place, gives orders. He is very large man. Rumor is he is product of Russian Super Soldier program, attempt to replicate Erskine's work."

Her head fell against the pillow. "That's great. What's wrong with me?"

"Your back was injured in the crash," said Sergei. "Here, at the base of your spine. You were paralyzed from the waist down. There was also a cut to your forehead and a break in your left forearm."

She looked at the cast on her arm. "Wait," she said. "What do you mean, I _was_ paralyzed?"

"See for yourself."

Ritsuko licked her lips, then sat up. It was deceptively easy. She heard something moving, felt something grinding in her back as she moved. It was irritating, like someone tugging at her skin, and felt like a day-old sprain.

"It hurts."

"Yes, it will do that," said Sergei. "I was not given time to perform the procedure properly."

Ritsuko continued to move, sitting up, and then leaned on his hands to stand. They were surprisingly soft. She felt her bare feet on the floor, felt the chill under her toes, as she stood, shakily. She definitely felt something moving on its own, inside her body. She touched the back of her head and felt cool metal embedded in her skin, surrounded by bandages. It covered her her neck and ran halfway up her scalp, which had been shaved up to the middle of her head.

"A mirror," said Sergei, handing her a bare piece of glass. She took it, turning her head to stare into it. He'd shaved her head from the ears back, or someone had.

On the back of her neck was a series of overlapping metal scales, with blinking LED lights in the center.

"What is it?"

"An artificial spine," said Sergei. "I built it from your existing one, integrated it into your nervous system. It is not perfect- the fit could use some adjustment, and it will take time for you to walk normally. There is also the power issue. You will have to connect the jack at the base to a twelve volt power source as you sleep to charge the batteries. If you have no power, you cannot walk."

"This is amazing," she murmured.

"I am considered something of an expert in my field," said Sergei, proudly. There was a hint of remorse in his voice.

"Thank you," she murmured. She touched her head again. "I might as well shave the rest of it."

He had an electric shaver. It did a rough job, running over her scalp. She must have been out for days- the stubble it left behind was her natural chestnut color. She let the last of her blonde locks pile up around her feet and kicked them under the bed, sighing. She looked down and flexed her toes.

Sergei offered her a ratty looking sweater, and she took it, dumping it over the thin cotton scrubs she was dressed in. It wasn't much, but it was something. She was about to thank him again when the door pounded open, and into the little infirmary walked the largest human being she had ever seen. He was a head taller than Gendo Ikari, and twice as broad. Massive shoulders and chest bulged at his plain, unadorned uniform, and his shaven head was a mass of scars, criss-crossing and overlapping. Sergei edged away from him. Ritsuko held her ground as best she could, leaning on a table.

"I see the surgery was a success," the giant said, leaning over her. "A shame to lose such a magnificent coiffure, but alas."

"There were other people on the plane," Ritsuko said, evenly.

"They are no longer your concern, doctor. You have been brought here for a special purpose."

She looked around the room. More soldiers filed in, but they looked like children next to their leader. This must have been the Koschei that Sergei mentioned.

The big man snapped his fingers and the guards surged forward, seizing her by her arms. Two of them held Sergei back as the rested dragged her forward and snapped a black bag over her head. Suddenly locked in the dark with the muffled rasp of her own breathing, she was forced to stumble forward blindly, each step sending grinding shooters of pain up her back. She was gasping for breath by the time she was pushed forward and the bad drawn off her head.

"Oh my God," she breathed, staring.

Lying prostrate on the table before her was the form of a man, disassembled. Spread out over a surprisingly large area, the suit had been taken apart in a sort of exploded view, like schematics. Her eyes found the damage immediately- a large hole in the side and another in the chest plate, and a dent in the outer layer of the helmet. It was old, at least forty years, judging by the silver color of some of the plating. She'd seen pictures of suits like this in engineering textbooks and magazines. As her wide eyes swept the table, the words tumbled out of her mouth.

"This is an Iron Man suit."

"Correct," said Koschei, standing behind her.

"Wh-what does this have to do with me?"

"You will, of course, repair it," said Koschei, resting a hand that could curl into a fist the size of her head on her shoulder. "You will further adapt it by installing a Super Solenoid Engine to power it. You will modify this suit to produce an AT-Field, and you will prepare my engineers and facilities to build more."

Her jaw worked soundlessly. "That's not possible."

The huge hand closed around her shoulder, and she winced. She could feel the strength in his fingers. If he wanted to plunge them through her flesh and tear her bones apart, it would be no less effort than cleaning a chicken.

"You will find that as the possibility of your success increases, so does your lifespan. Do not disappoint me."

The huge man turned to leave her with it.

"Wait," she said. "I need a lab assistant."

He looked at her flatly, dark eyes boring through her.

"The doctor would work, I think. The one who fixed my back."

The giant nodded once, and left.

She looked around the room. There was a crude cot in the corner, behind a ratty curtain, and a toilet. It looked like part of a prison. There was a full selection of instruments, though, and a bank of computers on the wall. She hobbled around the room a little bit, looking things over. It was no MAGI system, that was for sure. She made her way to the table where the suit was spread out in pieces, all laid out like some sort of child's toy, and sat down in a creaking task chair that made her wince as her back twinged. She remembered what Sergei said about recharging her batteries and laughed. How the hell was she supposed to make a Super Solenoid in here? The greatest minds in human history hadn't begun to tackle that problem.

She picked up the faceplate of the suit's helmet. It was dull silver, heavily worn from use and storage, the shining finish a fine web of scratches and scrapes. It looked like a bullet hole had been repaired at some point. She realized that Tony Star himself had worn this suit, and blinked in awe, running her hand over the etched steel. She'd need to get it cobbled together and, somehow, managed to test a solenoid with it. If it didn't explode or suck the entire facility into a singularity, it might actually work.

Tapping the faceplate on the table, she wondered. The doctor said something about a computer in her back, linked to her nervous system. She glanced at the computers.

Just then, Sergei was shoved in the room. He pushed his spectacles up his nose and stared in shock.

"Can it be?" he murmured.

"Let's get started."

**Weeks Later**

Ritsuko made a mark on the wall with her marker and chuffed out a breath. She ran her hand through her hair, now as long as the first joint on her finger and her natural chestnut color, and realized that somewhere along the line she'd missed making one of these hashmarks and her count was off. There was no clock, either, so she slept when she was tired and woke when she was rested. Her meals appeared while she was asleep. She had the feeling that she was being deliberately denied any sense of time. Behind her, the armor teased her.

She had it mostly back together. With some of the welding gear and Sergei's help, she's fashioned a crude stand for it. The most important parts were the torso and headgear, and she had that together and was even able to reconstruct the damage. Replacing the missing arc reactor with a super solenoid was the real problem. She had most of the equations sketched out on the blackboard and these people were generous with materials. She slid a note under the door and whatever she asked for appeared the next day. She had what she thought she might need on the table near the armor.

The issue was control. She had no idea how Stark controlled the suit. The blank metal faceplate offered her no help. She knew the early suits reacted to his movements- he essentially had to push them around, but this one was more complicated, one of the transitional ones. She'd managed to date it to about a year or two after Norman Osborn's death, at the latest. He retired not long after that, and the last of his suits were all destroyed. How this one came to be here, she had no idea.

Sergei woke up, groaning. Ritsuko sat down on a stool and fished for the wire she needed to jam into the jack at the base of her spine and recharge her batteries. She'd gotten used to it, absurdly, and once it was in place she went about scribbling some notes on the page. The older man sat up and brushed his hand through his thinning hair. He looked a bit more respectable with a scraggle of beard, though he was never going to be all that much to look at. He settled his wire-frame glasses on his nose and walked over to her, limping on a cramped leg.

"I don't want to do this," she said, tapping the page. "This is incredibly dangerous, trying to make one of these things work."

"The suit?"

"No, the S2 engine. If my calculations are off, the reaction will spiral out of control and almost anything could happen."

He nodded. "Yet if you do not do this thing, we will be killed, yes,?"

"Yes," she sighed, pushing the paper away. She picked up a cold sandwich and started eating it.

"Then there is no choice," said Sergei, "Possible death or the certainty. I do not see why you hesitate."

"If I stall them, it might mean a few more days. I put this thing together and switch it on…"

Sergei shrugged. "A few more days of this?"

She glanced at him, and at the armor. "Have you thought of… leaving?"

His eyes narrowed. "You must not speak of this. If Koschei hears… he can find another."

Ritsuko looked over the schematics she'd drawn, not for the Engine but for the reactor she'd use to create it. She looked at the suit. If she had time to get the reactor in place and could control it somehow, she could get them both out. One of those suits was as good as an army, even an outdated one. She looked intently at it. She needed a control mechanism, some way to interface with it.

Her back twinged, and she rubbed at it, her fingers sliding overt the composite material that covered the artificial spine.

Her eyes widened. "Oh my God," she breathed. "I've got it."

"What?" said Sergei.

She pulled the wire out of her back and got up, hobbling to the suit. "Quickly, help me. Bring the tools. I can get this to work."

**Weeks Later**

He followed her, and did as he was bid, holding here, handing her a tool there, supporting parts as she put the suit together. There was a kind of endoskeleton, so to speak, the main internal structure that supported the mechanicals and the armor layer. How she could get it to project an AT-Field she didn't yet know, but… if she could get it operational at all, that would be a feat. It took a few hours to get the legs attached. The arms were more complicated, the gauntlets each containing a stunning number of components, hundreds per finger. Once it was together, she stepped back and admired her work. She'd have to patch the damage on the side of the chest plate and the helmet, but it was doable.

She sat down, and started drawing up the list of parts and materials she'd need to try synthesizing an Engine.

It sat on the brushed steel work table in a little glass canister, frosted from being drawn from the freezer. She knew, eventually, that she would be confronted with something like this. Handling it with a pair of padded gloves, Ritsuko picked up the sin from Genesis, the very flesh of a God. She was somewhat sketch on its origins, but she knew that the tiny sliver of red material in the battery-sized container that looked like so much red crystal was something ancient and alive, the product of the twentieth century's inexorable evolution from mere science to the metascience of the future, science and sorcery reconciled from their ancient split. Where Koschei could have acquired this, she had no idea.

"What is that?" said Sergei.

"It's a sliver of a core," said Ritsuko, "and we're going to use it to grow the S2 engine for the suit."

She glanced over her shoulder. Her instructions were clear, and so she could not fully repair the suit, only make it functional, ready for testing and reverse engineering. To that end, she'd replaced the damaged sections with bulkier, black anodized armor plating, riveted in place. From what she'd seen, it was still flight capable, and some of the weapons worked. She still didn't know how she could manage to make it project an AT-Field, though. If she made the Engine work, that at least would buy her some time, and the suit's onboard force field could be repaired. She looked intently at the suit.

It was going to be a tight fit around the chest.

She picked up the core sample and carried it towards the synthesis chamber she'd constructed, on the far end of the room.

"What is a core?" said Sergei.

"It's a sphere of extremely dense tissue with a highly unique molecular structure," said Ritsuko, "a kind of crystal DNA. It's the center of the life form that is the basis of Evangelion technology, cloned from the creature that started Second Impact."

"It sounds dangerous," said Sergei.

"It is. Goggles."

He pulled his heavy welder's goggles down over his eyes. The synthesis chamber took up most of one side of the room. From the outside, it looked mostly like a massive gray box- she'd overseen the construction herself. The inner walls were sandwiched layers of steel, concrete, and composites, strengthened with internal beams. The actual chamber was small. What she had to do was, in essence, run an immense amount of power through the core sample, and if it was still stable, it would regenerate into a tiny core. If her calculations were right, it would stabilize into a functional super-solenoid before it grew too large. If she was wrong, it would either grow to enormous proportions and crush them, or grow so large that it destroyed the chamber and then destabilize when it was cut off from the power source, and either explode or suck itself into a hypothetical space inside a singularity.

Ritsuko was sweating.

Using a pair of tongs, she extracted the core from the container, holding it carefully with both hands. If it heated up too much, it could start to regenerate immediately. She reached into the chamber through the heavy door, slipped it in place, and slammed it shut, taking a breath. No time to waste. She made sure the door was locked, leaning on the latches and the wheel that rolled the heavy lock bolts into place with Sergei's help, and moved to the side of the room, where she'd set up the control interface.

"Temps are good," she said to the air, "Initializing."

She turned a dial -this was all so crude, she couldn't believe she was even attempting it- and the lights dimmed. She glanced over her shoulder at Sergei, then folded down a keyboard from one of the racks and began typing, pausing to glance at the readouts on the main array. If it went out of control, there would be no stopping it. She heard a crackling from inside the chamber, and it began to radiate heat, enough that her skin broke out in pinpricks and she began to sweat. She blew air up from under her lower lip, brushing away phantom bangs she'd shaved off when she came here, and hit the command that would load the program she'd written into the suit.

Sergei stared at the reactor, waiting. Ritsuko backed up, making to fiddle with something on the table. Instead, she pulled her sweater over her head and reached behind her neck, under the hem of her dirty scrubs, to pull off the small panel covering the top of her artificial spine. As Sergei watched the dials creep up, he backed away from the growing heat, ignoring her. She made her way over to the suit and found the latch behind the helmet. It swung up, and the chest plate slid out and lifted up. She'd duck under it, and then stick her arms in, and the now open legs would clamp around hers.

"Doctor Akagi," said Sergei.

She turned back and hurried to the reactor, ignoring the heat, like standing in front of a bonfire. It would be finished soon. She felt like a mad scientist as she watched the needles start to swing the other way. It was stabilizing, starting to put off more energy than it was taking in. A tiny crack formed around the top of the enclosure, where the material bubbled, oozing red hot down the front. There was little time. She yanked on her heavy protective gloves and goggles, and hit the switch to cut off the external power.

There was a mighty _whump_ and a bang, and the enclosure shuddered. The melting corner of the huge panels bubbled and began to cool, fading from a red to a grayish heat patina. She stepped forward, waiting. The door would have to cool before she could open it. She nodded to Sergei and he pulled on his heavy gloves and together they started unlatching the bolts and threw the wheel that would slide the heavy steel pegs out of the door. When it swung out, the softened hinges sagged, creaking. Quickly, she thrust the tongs into the chamber, grabbed the core, and pulled it out.

Astoundingly, it was coated in a thin layer of ice. She hurried to the containment unit, a small metal disk on the table near the suit, and dropped it inside. When it made contact, the helical structure in the core flashed, and the containment plug rose up around it and locked in place, making for a rather plain looking metallic cylinder.

"Hurry," she said opening the laptop.

She picked up the enclosure, which was quite cool, and jammed it into the chest plate of the suit, then turned it with a sharp click. She saw lights coming on inside the helmet. It was working, her jerry-rigged adapter putting the tiny core in place of an arc reactor. The suit shuddered as it adjusted itself, the operating program running micro-tests on the servos.

"It works," said Sergei. "Koschei will be please."

"No, he won't," said Ritsuko.

It was time. She grabbed a spool of bandages from the table and began rolling them around her chest, flattening her bosom, until she was covered from her navel to just under her shoulders. Stiffly, she pulled the wire she'd attached to the upper part of the suit's back and jammed it into the connector at the top of her spine, wincing at the strange grinding sensation, and turned to step into the suit.

"What are you _doing?"_ said Sergei.

"Getting us out of here," said Ritsuko. "I loaded my command program. You just have to help me."

The suit did not fit her. It pinched her hips and she had to bend her feet at the ankle to touch the bottom of the boots, despite her attempts to shorten them. She slipped her arms into the suit and pushed them forward, the action hitting an internal switch that brought the chest plate to her and mostly sealed her inside. It pressed painfully on her chest despite the bandages, but it was better than nothing. Between the shoulders and the calf sections, she felt stretched out, but the tightness around her chest and hips kept her from shifting.

"See that progress bar? When it fills up, hit Shift-F2."

Her eyes snapped to the door. Koschei stormed inside, huge and looming, a look of rage on his face. A squad of thugs followed after him. Sergei raised his hand, gesturing for them to stop, and they all froze.

Ritsuko blinked.

"I'm afraid not, Doctor," said Sergei, his lilting accent vanished. "Did you really think that it would be so easy for you? That you would be handed the means for your escape? We are not comic book villains. I'm afraid your usefulness to us is at an end."

Ritsuko sighed. "I shouldn't have trusted you."

Sergei smiled thinly. "Indeed, you should not have."

"I didn't."

The suit finished booting. The faceplate clanged home over her face, drowning out the shouting. She heard bullets pinging off the armor, and without the suit's repulsor field, they'd go through it when they hit a weak spot. Icons flashed in front of her face, but most importantly she felt it, a sudden, grindingly painful jolt like a knife jammed in her back. When she moved, the suit moved with her. She tore herself off the rack, stumbling as she stomped around in the heavy, ill-fitting boots, and covered herself with the arms as best she could. She had no time to figure out how to operate the damned thing. There was an icon in the lower left corner of her HUD, a miniature armor suit surrounded by wavy lines. She had a feeling that was the one, but she didn't know how to activate it. She stared at it, bullets pinging off the armor. She stumbled back turning up the heavy table, and ducked behind it. Bullets came through it anyway, tap-tapping off the armor's plating.

"Shit," she muttered, "Shit, shit, shit, there must be a way to activate the field…"

A voice chimed in her ear. "Activating field."

Voice commands?

"Field strength at maximum. Iron Man Mark Six Online."

Ritsuko clenched her teeth, grabbed the edge of the table, and a little thrill made her heart leap as the steel folded under her armored fingers. She stood up. On her heads up display, tiny red circles flashed where the bullets were striking the field, and ricocheting off into the lab.

The shooting stopped, and Koschei, if the big man really was this Koschei, charged forward. Her eyes flew open as his hand closed around the throat of the suit, lifting her off the ground. He kept going and drove her into the wall, so hard it cracked, little streamers of dust falling down from the roof. She lifted up her feet instinctively and kicked. The blow knocked him back, but the motion triggered something. The boot repulsors fired with an audible roar and sent her skidding up the wall and along the ceiling. She kicked again and shut them off just in time to topple to the floor, behind the squad of soldiers. The big man came at her again, his uniform shredded but none the worse for wear. Ritsuko turned, yanked the heavy door of the synthesis chamber, and swung it around. It clipped him in the face, sending him stumbling back, and she turned and hit him in the gut with the edge. He folded, but she saw from the aura of data surrounding him on her display that he wasn't down.

Spreading her fingers, she thrust out her palms. She made the right guess, and with a loud, surprisingly high pitched _ping!_ The repulsors on her gauntlets fired and a blast of light sent him flying, crashing into the soldiers. Sergei, or whoever he was, stepped aside, deftly, and surged at her. He crossed the gap with such speed she barely had time to raise her arms in a defensive cross and find herself crashing into the synthesis chamber. He grabbed the door, picked it up, and swung it at her. The corner clipped her helmet and despite the field her head spun, the helmet ringing like a bell. She ducked the next shot.

_Focus. I need to escape, not take them all on myself._

She ran with long, loping, unnatural strides that chafed against her thighs and the back of her knees, crashing through the door and into the hall. She ran right into the far wall, leaving a spider-web crack in it, picked a direction, and ran.

"Radar!" She shouted, "Sonar! Nav system! Something!"

A pulsing radar arc appeared in front of her, outlining the shape of the hall. She kept on running, bursting through a door until she caught sight of a stairwell and ran for it. There was shouting behind her, and gunfire. She ran into the stairwell, looked up, back at the door, and up again, and clenched her teeth as she kicked her toes down in the boot. The repulsors fired her up into the air. She tried to dodge the staircases but clipped them instead, sending chunks of concrete raining behind her, and had to jam her hands up to keep from smashing head first into the ceiling at the top. She lunged for the top landing, kicked off the jets, and came to a joint-grinding stop, struggling for balance at the top of the stairs before the suit corrected with a whir and toppled her forward, into a run. She smashed through the doors, splintering them and shocking a squad of soldiers. Before they got their guns up, she was already moving, heading for sunlight.

She burst through another set of doors, right into a military base, just like others she'd seen before. She swung her head around, and the helmet moved with her, scanning. It put a targeting ring around a tank of fuel, probably for the rows of tanks sitting in front of her.

Teeth clenched, she thrust out her hands and fired. A whining blast sent a rippling wave of white energy over the tanks. They crumbled, the fuel began spilling out in a shining wave, and a second burst sent it up. She felt the heat even through the suit, howling in triumph. Bullets scattered off her back. She turned around and fired back, aiming low, sweeping them off their feet. Chaos reigned around her. As a cluster of men ran for one of the tanks, she picked off the one climbing up the side and the others scattered. She walked through the base, firing at anything that looked fragile or important, howling. She glanced at the power-level on her HUD; it was at maximum, and a little red bar was starting to rise over the limit. She swallowed, hard, and kicked on the boot repulsors.

Now that she was outside, a flight HUD appeared in front of her- altitude, attitude, and most important, direction. She needed some kind of landmark, some way to figure out where the hell she was.

"I wish I knew this thing's maximum flight ceiling," she said.

"Eight-five thousand feet," the suit replied in its artificial voice.

She blinked. Then she went up.

**Tokyo-3**

**Nerv Medical Facility**

**2015**

Ritsuko sat up in the bed and looked around. Somehow, sleeping had made her even more tired, her fatigue redoubled. When she'd made a call from a train station outside the city, she was dressed in dirty scrubs, bandages bound around her chest and grime caking her every joint, her every fingernail, every little crease in her skin, even around her eyes. It felt like a miracle just to be clean, a new soothing experience she could barely remember. The apparatus in her back clicked and whirred as she twisted. She could still feel it pulling at her skin. She had a notebook on the counter; she'd started sketching out a series of modifications to make it more efficient, reduce her limp, and extend the power.

The Iron Man suit, what was left of it after she crashed near Lake Ashii, was safely hidden. She'd go back for it later. She's been in the hospital for three days, in a fog of drug and tests, and this was the first time she was really conscious of her surroundings. She'd been awake for an hour, and no sign of Naoko. She was probably working on some engineering problem.

Maya Ibuki came in, hovering by the door. She was a grown woman but carried herself like a child, in the halting, unsure way of a child cast adrift in the world of adults. She slipped into the room, staring at the floor, and Ritsuko sighed. She had no idea why Maya would be there; she was just another engineering technician, if a particularly skilled one, though you wouldn't know from her meek and mild demeanor.

"Have you seen my mother?" said Ritsuko. "Has someone let her know I'm here?"

Maya swallowed hard, and moved to the side of the bed, leaning on the railing. "I don't know how to tell you this."

Ritsuko's chest clenched. "Tell me what?"

Maya looked at the floor. "Your mother is gone."

"What do you mean, gone? Where did she go?"

Maya swallowed, and finally looked up. "She died the night you disappeared. Nerv had her cremated, and-"

Ritsuko had an intellectual understanding that this moment would come, the understanding that every child carries with them that their parents will most likely precede them in death. Ritsuko stared at Maya for a second, and then a high pitched wail escaped her mouth, like a teakettle building up to a boil. She plunged her face in her hands and sobbed with an intensity that shocked her, some distant part of her brain realizing that she was bawling into her hands like a little girl, that her back hurt like hell from doubling over, but all that was drowned out.

Maya stood there like a statue, and then, after a while, put her hand on Ritsuko's shoulder. She didn't bat it away or twist out from under it. She was too busy screaming into her hands. When she finally managed a word, it was a strangled _why_, and after a time that felt like forever, she managed to ask a coherent question through her tears.

"What happened?"

"She fell," said Maya. "She must have t-tripped on the upper level of the command center. They found her in front of the MAGI. H-her head h-hit the outer casing, and-"

Ritsuko broke into another wail, clutching herself.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Leave me alone," Ritsuko snapped, "Please, I need to be alone right now."

When Maya backed out of the room, she turned and snatched up the phone. She fumbled to remember the number for her voicemail- she had to call the number for her own phone. When it clicked over to the message service, she put in her code, expecting to find a bunch of saved messages. She just wanted to hear her mother's voice.

A tinny voice said, "One new message."

She the button and listened, pressing the phone to one ear and her hand to the other.

"Ritsuko, this is your mother. Listen to me. Stay away. Don't come back here. There's something wrong. I'm leaving. I'll call you when I'm safe. I found something… it doesn't matter, I have to go. Don't come back to Nerv. I beg you. Ritsuko. I love y…"

Her voice cut off. Distant, tinny as it was recorded by the phone's speaker, Ritsuko heard a peal of laughter, high and cackling. There was a clatter of noise as Naoko dropped the phone, and everything became distant.

"What are you?" said Naoko, heels clicking as she backed away.

The other voice was bubbling, almost giggling. "Hello, Auntie Naoko. Can you come out to play?"

Screaming.

"Help me!" Naoko shrieked, "Somebody help-"

Ritsuko dropped the phone, shivering, and clutched herself.

In a few minutes, she stopped crying, and she started planning.

**Hakone Regional Memorial**

**2004**

Mother is dead.

One thought rang in Shinji's mind. Mother is dead. Mother is dead. Mother is dead. He was in a strange place, surrounded by people all in black. Aunt Naoko was there, and Uncle Fuyutsuki. Father held his hand as the old priest spoke the words. There was no hole in the ground, and no coffin. It didn't seem fair. There was only a stick, a thin metal pole with mother's name at the bottom. Shinji stared at it and decided he hated it. He did not listen to the words of the old priest. They didn't mean anything to him.

The adults talked, mostly to each other. Someone noted the absence of somebody named Kyoko. Shinji knew she was a pretty lady with red hair, but that was all. He dimly remembered her before she went away and didn't come back and no one told him why. He also knew that she didn't like Mother very much, so he didn't care for her much, either. The adults moved together in clumps, talking to each other. Father held Shinji's hand, and his grip tightened. There was a roll of thunder in the distance, and it started to rain.

When Father knelt in front of him, Shinji was glad it was raining. He didn't want to see Father crying. He brushed the tears from Shinji's cheeks and stared into his eyes as if he lost something and might find it there, and then picked up him, right up off the ground. It was time to leave.

"I want Mommy back," Shinji said, barely a whisper.

"She's not here," Father said softly, rubbing his back with his strong hand. "I'm sorry, Shinji. She's gone."

"I want her _back,_" he said, sharper now. Some of the adults glanced at him and rushed away, their faces darkening with grief.

"Shinji, hush," Father said, his voice shaking in a way that only made Shinji more and more upset.

"I want her back!" he screamed, reaching out for the metal pole, one among many, as if it were a waypoint on the path to her soft embrace.

He felt something, and he grasped it, without knowing how. Father heard another peal of thunder and pulled him away, but something in the earth moved. Shinji pulled, and Gendo's feet hooked in the ground, sliding in the soft grass. His heels pushed into the earth and made tracks of mud, and still he moved.

Naoko and Fuyutsuki rushed to his side and helped him pull. Shinji was crying, and he was pulling.

There was a loud pinging sound, and a twisting of metal. The marker over the not-grave turned, twisted, and bounded out of the ground, crumpling on itself as it rolled. Shinji let go and Father staggered forward, standing in the rain, staring at the crumpled ball of metal as it rolled to a stop and came to rest at the foot of one of the other markers.

**Nerv Headquarters**

**2011**

Shinji pressed his nose to the glass, fogging it, as he watched the girl in the white plugsuit walk towards the Evangelion. She was slight, of a height with him, and had a mop of silvery hair that looked almost blue when it caught the light. Father walked out onto the entry gantry as she approached, and spoke to her. She clasped her hands in front of her chest and smiled broadly as she replied to whatever he said. Shinji followed him with his eyes as he walked away, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He jogged up the metal stairs to the observation platform and opened the door.

"Dad?" said Shinji. "Who's that girl?"

Towering over him, Father glanced out at Unit Zero. The Eva's armor plating was still matte gray, and it looked almost like an insect, with one enormous, glassy lens for an eye and jutting protrusions from its forehead and chin. A huge apparatus of bolts and wires surrounded its arms, leading to the concrete wall behind it. It was bound to the concrete pylons on either side of it by enormous chains, like a monster in a movie. He watched Rei as one of the engineers handed her a bulky looking helmet, fitted with two bumps on the top.

"She looks like a kitty," Shinji observed, as the girl fitted her helmet. Father shushed him, moving to speak with the other adults.

The engineer helped her fit the helmet to her bulky suit, and tapped her on the head. Shinji felt a hand on his shoulder. Natalie Summers, the Creepy Lady, crouched beside him, smiling a shark smile that didn't touch her crimson eyes. She ruffled his hair and he froze, hoping she would go away. Shinji didn't like her pale skin, or the funny way her breath smelled, or the way she walked, and he didn't like the way she looked at Father.

"Exciting, isn't it?" Summers murmured, patting Shinji's head. "This is a very big day for your father."

"Summers," Doctor Akagi snapped, taking Shinji's other hand. "Don't you have something better to do?"

Shinji liked Dr. Akagi. Father called her Naoko. She was funny, but she smelled like smoke all the time. She pulled him away from the Creepy Lady, and he liked that, too. Shinji moved to her side and they walked to the tall windows at the side of the observation platform and watched. Naoko slipped her hand out of his and moved to her console, and he was left alone. Even Father was busy, and people began shouting scientific things about absolute borderlines, stable synchronization, and conversion circuits. Shinji understood little of it, and watched in fascination as the robot twitched, sending a groan through the entire facility as it strained against its restraints.

There was strain in Naoko's voice. "Third stage circuits are becoming unstable. Reversal imminent. We need to abort, Gendo."

"No," Father said, quietly. He stood behind the others, his hands folded behind his back. He gave the Creepy Lady a look and a nod.

Naoko stared at him. "The pilot-"

He silenced her with a look. He could do that, make people stop talking by staring at them over the frames of his glasses. Shinji was not quite sure how he did that. He looked back out through the glass. The robot was moving, pushing its insectoid head forward, pulling at the massive bolts that held the straps of steel around its neck. Shinji's stomach fluttered, and he felt a peculiar feeling in his head, almost pain, but not quite. He sniffed.

"Third stage connections have reversed!" Naoko shouted, standing, "Berserker!"

She was out of her chair and running for the console at the end of the room. Father stopped her with an arm across her stomach that knocked the wind out of her, and she struggled anyway. He held her back as though she were a child.

"We have to eject the plug _now!"_ she shouted, struggling.

Father whispered something to her. She froze.

"That… that isn't…" she said, looking at him with fear, her eyes watering.

Shinji's head snapped back to the window. The Eva pulled free of the wall in a single, quaking motion that sent bolts and chunks of concrete and dust raining down to the floor of the test chamber and stomped forward, swinging its arms low and forward, like an ape. It let out an alien sound, a terrible rasping bellow that Shinji could feel in his chest. He stood in front of the glass, blinking and unmoving.

He could feel it.

Father seized him and pulled him back as the Eva raised its massive fist and rammed it forward. The glass broke into a spiderweb, hanging in, and the first pulled back and rammed home again. The floor shook under his feet as a spreading crack ran through the observation chamber. The adults were running and screaming, but Shinji wasn't afraid. Father was not afraid. He was waiting.

The next blow came and before Shinji realized what he was doing, he lifted his hand, spreading his fingers, and the Eva's fist slowed. He felt it, like two magnets pushing together at the wrong ends, a kind of soft but hard tension between his hand and the creature. There was blood coming out of his nose.

Naoko pushed the eject switch.

The Eva _shrieked_, its voice setting Shinji's teeth on edge, and when it pulled back he collapsed forward. Father grabbed him under the arms and held him up, and he felt the world tilting and spinning, and grew dizzy. The Eva flailed, stomping away from the chamber, dragging at its own head as the massive explosive bolts blew open its exterior armor plating and it let out a strangled, gurgling sound as a second set of bolts severed its spine with a crack and it fell forward, limp like a puppet with its strings cut, as the entry plug blasted from the neck joint and hit the ceiling, skimmed along it, and slammed into the wall before rolling to the floor.

Shinji gasped. That girl was inside!

He wriggled out of Father's grasp and ran. He pushed the door open without touching it and ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, holding the railing at the turns to throw himself around the corners until he reached the bottom and ran past the unmoving metal monster towards the plug. He was out of breath when he reached it and the blood dribbled to his chin. He touched the hatch for a bare second. It was too hot to touch, and his skin hissed from the contact. On pure instinct, he felt it the way he felt the Eva's fist, and he pulled. The hatch popped free, and hot liquid that smelled like blood rushed over him, knocking him back.

Father took him by the shoulder. He was very strong.

"Shinji!" he snapped.

Behind him, a team of medics and men in bulky suits rushed to the entry plug. Father pulled Shinji around, and wiped the watery blood from his chin with the back of his calloused, powerful hand. He lowered himself until he looked at Shinji, eye-to-eye.

"Why did you do that?" he demanded.

"That girl is in there," said Shinji.

"Listen to me, very carefully," said Father. "That is not a girl. It is a thing. We grew her in a lab. She's part of the machine, and nothing else. She doesn't have a name, or a family, or any purpose other than piloting Eva. You will not speak to her, or risk yourself for her again. Do you understand?"

"But-"

"_Do you understand?"_

"Yes," Shinji said, softly.

"Good. You did very well today. I'm proud of you. It's time for your training to begin."

**Doomstadt, Latveria**

**2012**

Shinji felt very small as he walked the halls of Doom, surrounded by heavy suits of armor on pedestals. A great clanking machine walked past him, stopping to scan him with its inscrutable glass gaze before it stomped off to unknown purpose, or just to patrol. He walked slowly over the carpeted floor, holding his breath. Standing before him was the King of Latveria, President of the European Union, and Secretary General of the United Nations, Victor von Doom.

Standing next to him was a girl.

She was his age, taller than he was and pretty, like a princess in a story. Red-gold hair spilled down over her shoulders, hanging in loose tumbles to the waist over the militaristic black uniform she wore, precisely cut and immaculately arranged. She wore no medals or false decorations, her clothes purely functional. She stood at attention with her hands clasped behind her back, and the top of her head barely reached her father's belt. He regarded Shinji with icy blue eyes, hidden behind a burnished metal plate and hidden in a deep chasm of a dark hood. It was said that Doom was so hideous that no one would look upon him, or that he had only a single scar marring his perfect face. Shinji didn't know. He didn't want to find out.

It was the girl who spoke. "Welcome to Latveria, Shinji Ikari." Her tones were precise and clipped, her accent odd and lilting. "I am Crown Princess Asuka Soryu von Doom, heir to the throne of Latveria."

She took a formal bow, hooking one leg behind the other. Shinji imitated it, while Doom stared at him, expressionless mask unmoving, almost like a statue.

"I am to be your guide and training partner," she announced, and stalked across the heavy carpet. She snapped her fingers and a pair of attendants in curiously medieval garb arrived and seized his bag from his shoulder and carried it off. She hooked her arm through his and pulled him along.

"Your quarters, first. I expect you are tired from your journey." She said everything as if she was reciting a line, reading from a script. "You will be given tonight to rest, and tomorrow the training begins. First, you will dine with me."

Apparently satisfied, Doom left with a sweep of his cloak, and the girl relaxed. She shoved him away, her hand against his ribs.

"First rule," she snapped. "Don't touch me. Icky boys are not allowed to touch me."

Shinji stuck his tongue out at her. "Boys aren't as icky as girls!"

Asuka huffed and turned her nose up at him. "How witty. Someone will show you your room. I have to make sure I've had a good night's rest, so I can properly embarrass you in the morning."

Shinji was abruptly aware of a presence behind him. One of the servants indicated with his hand, and Shinji followed, staring after Asuka as she stalked down the hall, throwing a heavy lock of hair over her shoulder.

**Hakone Regional Memorial**

**2014**

Shinji stood in the grass and looked down on his mother's grave. He made the driver bring him here first, and it did not surprise him to see Father striding through the afternoon sunlight, all in black and grim-faced, his hands in his pockets. Shinji stared down at the marker as if he could will her to reappear, to give voice and tender touch to the name etched in the blackened steel. Father stood beside him for a time, not looking at it.

"You know she's not here."

Shinji sighed. "Yes."

"I instructed you to come directly to me."

"I did," he said, his voice flat. "You knew I would come here."

Father nodded. "So I did."

"There are no pictures, no video, nothing. Why?"

Father looked uneasy. "I have my reasons, Shinji. You must have faith."

Faith. Shinji looked up from the marker.

"How did you training go?" said Father, staring off into the distance. "Did you make her proud?"

Shinji raised his hand, his fingers straight up from his upright palm, cupping the air. He unfolded his fingers and with a groaning squeal of metal, every marker within sight bent outwards, away from him, tilting lazily like a melted candle. If Father was startled, he didn't show it. Shinji brought his fingers back up and the markers twisted into the their original position, as if they had never been touched.

Father nodded, approvingly. "Good. The girl is coming here. She will be joining you at the academy. I expect you will welcome her warmly. We cannot afford to anger her father."

Shinji nodded. "I will not."

His heavy hand resting on Shinji's shoulder, Father looked at the tree on the hill. "I chose this spot because there is a tree, and sunlight, and flowering things. Your mother loved life, was full of joy at living."

"You should have protected her."

Father's hand squeezed his shoulder, but his voice remained even. "Perhaps. Perhaps. Remember what I've taught you, Shinji. Our time will come. The world will bend to our shape. We should go. There is work to be done."

Shinji threw out his hand, and with invisible lines of magnetic force wreathed mother's marker, yanked it from the ground, and compressed it into a tight ball. With a flick of his hand he send it tumbling down over the hill, until it came to rest in a low place, clanging against another memorial. Father drew his hand back, startled.

"I am never coming here again," said Shinji, and turned to leave.

**Tokyo-3**

**Present Day**

Hikari Horaki stood on the platform at Neo Tokyo-3 Station Number 3, along with the rest of class 2-A, waiting for the train that would take them to the Evolutionary Science Center. Hikari worked with the other student group leaders, ticking off the names of the students in her group on her clipboard. She enjoyed leadership roles, although the Academy did not have class representatives, as did her old school. She found the uniform rather uncomfortable, as well. Unlike her previous school, where she wore the standard jumper and starched white shirt, students at the Academy, male and female both, wore black slacks and a red, high collared shirt and black jacket. Hikari had her uniform arranged very carefully and primly, as did the rest of the students on her list, except for Shinji Ikari. He stood slightly apart from the others. In her group were Mari Makinami, Kensuke Aida, Toji Suzahara, and Shinji. The class had been divided into groups of five. She stood between two concrete columns, glancing between them. On one, someone had crudely scrawled "SPIDER-MAN LIVES", on the other, stenciled beneath an image of a medieval looking helmet, was "MAGNETO WAS RIGHT".

Mari stood on the edge of the platform, swaying back and forth on her heels. She had a good six inches and fifty pounds on every other girl in the class, and it was almost all muscle with the exception of her impressive bust, the talk of the lewd and vulgar boys and their lunchtime conversations. That wasn't the only thing about her that garnered attention, mostly male but also female. There were rumors about her and one of the foreign students, a half-Japanese named Asuka; they roomed together in the Academy's dormitories. The thing that brought the most attention on Mari, though, was that like many of the students at the Academy, many more than most schools, she was a mutant. The sides of her head, where her ears should have been, were smooth skin, and on top of her head was a pair of always twitching, always moving pointed ears, almost like those of a cat, swiveling this way and that to pick up sounds. Hikari was still learning not to stare at them.

"Hi, Mari," Hikari said brightly.

Mari leaned over the tracks, balancing herself eerily well. "Horaki," she said.

Hikari ticked her off on the roster and made her way over to Toji and Kensuke.

"She has a tail," said Kensuke, _sotto vocce_. "I'm telling you."

"She does not," said Toji, looking around idly. "Where's she keep it? Besides, she doesn't care if we see her ears, why-"

"Perverts," Hikari said, narrowing her eyes. "Good morning."

"Hey, Horaki," said Toji, blushing nervously at her approach.

"I should report you two for talking about Mari behind her back," said Hikari. Then, she made her voice very low, almost a whisper. The two boys leaned to hear her. "I think she can hear you, anyway."

She pointed to the top of her head for emphasis. The boys looked at Mari, and as Hikari glanced over her shoulder, she noticed one of those ears of hers pointed squarely at them.

"I hear she bats for the other team," said Toji.

Kensuke stuttered something and typed a note into his tablet computer. Hikari shook her head.

She went to find Shinji.

He was standing away from the rest of the students, one hand in his pocket, his jacket hanging open. Away from the others, the morning breeze ruffled his hair in a way that for some reason, made Hikari's heart beat a little faster. He _stood _confidently.

"Uh," said Hikari, "Uh, good morning, Shinji."

He glanced at the clipboard under her arm. "I'm here."

"Yeah, I guess you are," she said, checking him off. "This is really exciting, huh?"

"No," said Shinji, "not particularly."

"What are you doing?"

Hikari turned around.

It was _her._ Asuka Soryu _von Doom. _The Latverian exchange student. Who was the daughter of Victor von Doom, the President of the European Union, the King of Latveria. She was literally royalty, and wore a little chain around her neck, tightened around her uniform collar, carrying a golden locket in flagrant violation of the uniform regulations. She narrowed her icy blue eyes and repeated her question. Hikari glanced at Shinji.

"Not him," she said primly, "You."

"Oh," said Hikari. "Shinji is in my group. I have to take attendance."

"You have taken it," said Asuka, waving her hand dismissively. A cluster of girls formed behind her, all under her in the school's popularity pecking order. They folded their arms and eyed Hikari like a gang of thugs until she moved off, heading back for the main group.

Hikari found herself with Toji and Kensuke again, watching the redhead stalk over to Shinji and talk with him. She looked angry, talking with her hands.

"She's so bouncy," Kensuke whispered.

Toji elbowed him.

"I'm right here," said Hikari.

"You don't bounce-" Kensuke started, until Toji thumped him on the head.

Hikari ground her teeth and looked away. Mari stalked away from the edge of the platform -she moved like a cat, too- and hooked her arm under Asuka's elbow, pulling her away from Shinji, and the crowd of Popular Girls immediately dispersed. Hikari tried hard not to stare, while Kensuke and Toji tried hard to stare without getting caught. Toji's twin sister, Sakura, waved from the periphery of the group. She somehow managed to look almost identical to Toji while also being one of the prettier girls in school.

The teachers were rounding up the students as the maglev train silently pulled into the station. From the corner of her eye, she saw Shinji twitch as it approached, as though he felt a sharp breeze. The groups were supposed to sit together, but Mari and Shinji found seats with Asuka, away from Hikari and the others, and she didn't bother trying to push them into their proper places, since no one else seemed to care. She settled into her seat, wedged between the two boys. Toji pulled away from her, blushing again, and sat forward, leaning on his long legs. Hikari looked past the top of his head at Shinji. His eyes flicked to hers for a moment, focused on her, and the intensity of his gaze made her heart pound, until Asuka looked the same way and she shuffled down into her seat, folding her arms over her chest.

"You shouldn't let the devil push you around," said Toji.

"Are you crazy?" said Hikari. "Do you know who her father is?"

"So?" said Toji. "That don't mean she's somebody special."

"Yes it does!" said Hikari. "She's a princess. Literally."

"Princess of the Bitch Kingdom," said Toji, smirking at his wit.

"Hey," said Hikari, watching Mari's ears twitch. "Remember how we decided that miss neko over there can hear us?"

Toji glanced in their direction, and this time he _did _pale a little. "Okay," he said. "Still, you shouldn't take crap from her."

The rest of the train ride was quiet. The students, Hikari included, used their few minutes of freedom to play around with their tablets, or work on homework, or in Hikari's case, stare out the window. Tokyo-3 was a modern marvel, one of the most developed cities in the post-impact world and a warring visual cacophony of architectural styles and materials, all of it dazzling, dominated by the Nerv buildings downtown. The biggest of these was the Human Evolution Institute's dome, where the students were bound for a tour. Hikari twisted around as the train took a long turn, high over the streets below. She imagined what it would be like to fly between those buildings, to seem them up close from a bird's eye view, and sighed.

It caught her by surprise when the train silently slid to a stop and the teachers stood up, followed by the students. Toji and Kensuke moved ahead of her as they disembarked, but she'd already marked them on her clipboard, and Mari was easy to pick out. She looked around for Shinji, and found that he'd faded to the back of the crowd, hands in his pockets, head down as though he was trying to sink into the pavement. She moved to talk to him, but by the time she was near, the teachers were shooing them all into a semicircle at the entrance to the Institute, around a short, pale woman with European features.

Hikari blinked when she saw her. She was dressed in a lab coat over a conservative pantsuit, but that wasn't the disconcerting thing. Her skin was chalk white, her lips a pale pink, and her irises crimson. At first, Hikari thought albino, but her hair was a rich black, so dark it was almost blue, tied in a loose, functional ponytail that hung over her shoulder. She adjusted her horn-rim glasses.

"Good morning, boys and girls," she said, her voice surprisingly loud. Her choice of words prompted a groan that Hikari somehow knew came from Toji. The woman ignored it. "I am Dr. Natalie Summers, head of the…"

At that point, Hikari began mentally replacing much of what she said with "blah blah blah, blah blah blah". She really was interested in the science stuff -she liked science- but she'd heard enough droning to last a lifetime in her old school. She found herself scanning the knot of students, looking for Shinji, but he'd melted into the crowd, standing with a random clump of boys- not really close enough to them to be part of their little crowd, but near enough that he might be missed. Hikari thought about edging towards him, but she felt eyes on her and saw Asuka shoot her a glance, and looked away from Shinji. The complex ballet of stares broke up as the groups began moving. She found Toji and Kensuke bringing up the rear, to watch the other girls in their tight slacks, probably.

"Here," Dr. Summers was saying, "We have some specimens of genetically modified spider, used as test subjects in our attempts to understand the x-gene and its relationship to radiation…"

Hikari peered through the glass. The tank, really just a big terrarium, was large enough for her to lie down in. She shuddered at the thought. It was full of the nasty little creatures, the sticks and walls inside covered with white sheets of their webs. The spiders themselves were hard to make out- tiny little things, scrabbling with too many legs over the webs, probably eating each other. There was one clinging to the glass that unnerved her. Striped all red and blue, she could see the joints of its legs to its underbelly as it moved up the side of the tank, and the curl of its little fangs. She shuddered, but pressed closer, fascinated, until her nose was an inch from the glass.

"If you'll follow this way, I'll show you some of the results of our experiments in recapturing earlier adaptations locked within our own genetic code…"

Hikari blinked as the crowd started to move, then turned back to the tank. The spider she saw was gone, or so she thought. She took a step back when she saw it perched on top of the tank, _outside_ the lid, its body coiled like a tiny little spring, front legs raised in a threat gesture. She didn't think that was supposed to happen.

"Hey," Toji called, "Come on!"

She glanced at him, and then slowly started to move. She turned back, and the spider was gone.

The next exhibit -all prattle about the work aside, Hikari knew a museum when she saw one, and this whole place was obviously a front- was mostly screens displaying graphs and charts and cartoon DNA while Dr. Summers went on about the human genetic code and how infants in the womb develop gills and tails before losing them during development. Hikari felt an inch at her neck and went to scratch it.

When she pulled her hand away, the spider was perched on the back of her hand, little arms raised and shaking at her. She froze, eyes locked on it, eight tiny buttons staring back at her. She watched the little fangs moving, holding her breath against the part of her mind shrieking _get it off me_. Thousands of years of uncanny human hatred of the arachnid clade screamed from the depths of her mind to _kill it_, but she slowly moved her hand, hoping it would crawl away if there was some place for it to escape. She rested her hand against a silver column near the monitors.

"Hikari?" said Toji.

She jerked her hand back, drawing in a sharp breath, and knew she was undone. The spider made a little clickty-click sound, just barely audible, and sank its fangs into the back of her hand. Pain lanced through her arm, and the war between compassion for the little creature and the ancient human instinct to smash the bug went the other way. She swatted it from her hand, not seeing where it fell, and stumbled. Agony rolled up her arm, and her vision fuzzed. She bumped into someone and staggered.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Shinji. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"I'm sorry about this morning. Are you okay?" he repeated. "You look sick."

She nearly threw up on him, doubling over in agony as her stomach clenched. She looked at her hand. There was an angry red welt forming, little black lines running away from it. She blinked, feeling her knees buckle, and fell against his chest.

"Hey!" he said.

She managed a strangled little gurgle. Her throat was closing, and she could barely breathe. The group had moved on, ignoring them both, and Shinji kept her from sinking to her knees.

Something happened.

Her heart thundered against her ribs, and heat formed in her stomach, flowing outwards. Another pain, a new, distinct flavor, hit the other one, and she staggered, pushing away as the unbearable heat from her insides washed up and over the cold agony in her chest and army from the spider's bite. She stumbled over and leaned against the column. She could feel pinpricks as she broke out in a sweat, struggling to breathe.

"Miss?" said Shinji.

Hikari laughed quietly to herself. He didn't even know her name.

"What's going on here?"

One of the teachers, Mister Kimura.

Shinji stared blankly, looking between them.

"I got a little dizzy," said Hikari, covering her hand. "I'm f-fine."

"You don't look fine, young lady," said the teacher. "No offense. Maybe you should rest for a while."

She nodded. Rest sounded good. She was having a hard time standing up. He walked with her to a bench near the visitor's center at the front, and she sat down, leaning against the wall. She felt like her head was spinning in circles, and her stomach was doing somersaults. She swallowed, hard, focusing on keeping it down. Kimura sat down next to her.

"Horaki, isn't it? Can I call you Hikari?"

Something happened.

Hikari sat bolt upright, reeling. It was like someone had jammed a rod up her spine. A fly buzzed past her face, no, not a fly, a _gnat_. She could count the fine hairs on its back, see the change in the contour of its wings as they flapped. She spotted the clock on the wall, saw the flicker of the liquid crystal elements before the second count changed. Mr. Kimura was surrounded by a kind of nimbus, a color she couldn't see, a shade of light just outside her perception, almost a sound as much a color, and almost a flavor or odor, too. It made the hairs on her necks stand on edge, made her fists clench, and the words were out of her mouth before she realized what was happening.

"Back off," she snapped.

He shook his head, and the feeling spiked, making her dizzy.

"Hey, there she is!" a voice called.

Toji and Kensuke ran over. "Mr. Kimura? What happened?"

"I got a little dizzy," said Hikari. "I think I'm getting sick."

She stood up, shakily, and ended up leaning on Toji. The buzzing in her brain flattened out, but it was still there. She knew where Kimura was without looking at him, almost like radar, like he was sitting there making a buzzing noise. He adjusted his spectacles and stood up.

"You should call someone to pick you up," he said, and headed back to the group of students.

Hikari pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed dial for her sister's number.

It rang twice, and Kodama picked up, sounding haggard. "What?"

"Sis?" said Hikari. "Can you pick me up? I'm not feeling good."

She could practically hear Kodama's surprise. "Okay, I'll be at the school in a few minutes."

"No, the Evolutionary Science Center."

"Oh, right, the field trip. Do you need to go to the hospital? They can call an ambulance for you."

"No. I want to go home."

"Okay. I'm on my way."

She hung up, and Hikari pocketed the phone.

"I dropped my clipboard," she half-moaned.

Toji and Kensuke walked her out to the front of the building. Kodama's electric hatchback pulled up a moment later. Her sister was just starting graduate school. Tall and thin, she looked like a stretched out version of Hikari, right down to the freckles dotting her cheekbones, but kept her hair in a bun. She was dressed professionally, and was probably in class when Hikari called.

"I'm sorry," she said, dropping into the passenger's seat.

"No, it's okay," said Kodama. She pushed her square-framed glasses up her nose. "What's wrong?"

"I think a spider bit me," said Hikari.

"Are you having an allergic reaction?" said Kodama, panic in her voice.

"No, I don't know. I feel sick. I want to go home."

Kodama nodded, and then looked past her at the boys.

"Thank you, gentlemen."

Toji nodded. "Any time."

As she pulled out of the line of cars in front of the Institute, Hikari definitely heard Toji make some comment about her sister being hot. She'd get him for that, later.

The most important thing now was sleep. The next thing she knew, the car hit a bump and she woke from her half-doze, to find Kodama's wrist touching her forehead.

"You're burning up. Let's get inside."

Hikari forced herself to walk on her own to the elevator, but leaned on the wall while they waited as it ascended to their floor, twelve up. She leaned on Kodama as they walked to the apartment door, and then inside. Hikari sat down in the cramped kitchen while Kodama handed her a bottle of water and went to fish out the thermometer from the bathroom. She returned with it and stuck it under Hikari's tongue.

Something about the way Kodama moved made Hikari blink. There was an odd familiarity in her movements. She had a flash of a similarly built woman, tall but built like a reed, moving through a much larger kitchen with a kerchief on her head. She blinked the image away as the thermometer beeped and Kodama snatched it.

"Ninety-nine," she said. "If it doesn't go down, or goes up in a few hours, you're going to the hospital, period."

Hikari nodded.

"Go take a shower. I'll make you some tea and make your bed."

Hikari blinked, but nodded. In the bathroom, she took off her coat, and then blinked as she realized her red, high-collared shirt was plastered to her body by sweat. She peeled it off and threw it to the ground with a wet slap, then disrobed and stepped under the water. It was hot for a while, and then she turned it down. The cold water made her head feel a little less heavy, and she stood under until she almost fell asleep and pitched forward.

She looked at her hand. There wasn't a mark on it, but all the veins were picked out in stark blue and black lines, maybe from the cold, maybe not. She stepped out, wrapped herself up in some towels, and headed for her bedroom. When she was dressed, Kodama stepped in and made her drink a cup of medicinal tea that didn't taste like tea at all, and was mostly flu medicine and decongestant. She rolled into the bed and Kodama pulled the blankets up to her throat and adjusted the pillows under her head.

"Sleep," she said. "I'll be back to check on you in a couple of hours."

She made sure Hikari's phone was on the nightstand, gave her shoulder a little squeeze, and stepped out, sliding the door shut and leaving her in darkness. In the distance, Hikari heard the plucking of strings, like the tiny, slivery limbs of some chitinous thing, tugging at a web.

Gradually, she fell asleep.

Sometime in the night, Hikari's fever broke.

The age of heroes was about to begin again.


	3. Strange Visitors

_Previously on…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_Following the fall of the Thousand Year Reich, the chief architect of Hitler's terror, __The Red Skull__, set out across the globe in search of the wonder-weapons his Fuhrer had wasted so much time and effort collecting. In his search he turned to Lorenz Kihl, an archeologist of little note working in secret in British Palestine. Kihl uncovered what he termed the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls, actually an alien cube containing details of a race from beyond to stars. There is technology so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic, and there is technology so advanced it _**is**_magic. _

_Over the following two decades, the Skull kept Kihl on a short leash, working to decipher the cube's mysteries while the world lurched into an Age of Heroes. Men like Tony Stark and Peter Parker took it on themselves to defend their fellow men with extraordinary gifts, while a new race of post-human mutants arose and threatened the established order. It was an age of wonder and adventure, when men and women could look up and catch a glimpse of the world of tomorrow being born today…_

_Until the night of August 21, 1973, when Norman Osborn, in his guise as the Green Goblin, murdered Gwen Stacy, the fiancée of Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. As an insurance policy against his failure, Osborn sent a package detailing Parker's identity and activities to every major news outlet. With Osborn's death by his own hand, Parker became a fugitive and the world teetered on the brink as humanity, whether human, superhuman, or mutant, was bitterly divided on the question of responsibility. Some blamed Parker for Stacy's death, others argued that men like Osborn had always existed, but in the age of superpowers, vigilantes were desperately needed to keep them in check. Both sides rallied around Gwen Stacy as a martyr of a victim, and protesters took up the chant Spider-Man Lives!_

_The turning point came at the trial of Peter Parker. Following his surrender to the authorities in New York, the trial was a media sensation, and nearly turned the tide for the pro-hero movement until the Avengers, under the command of Tony Stark, broke Parker out of prison and spirited him away. The general public had no way of knowing that Doctor Doom, at the behest of Kihl, had arranged his murder, and tipped off Stark. The Age of Heroes was over, and in the new age, superpowers were scorned and shunned, the wearing of masks was a federal offense, and the newly invented mutation suppressing drug Mutex caught on like wildfire, despite the desperate efforts of the mutant terrorist Magneto. _

_Doom's grip on the world tightened. Without the distraction of battling the Fantastic Four, now forced to break up and live under their civilian identities, Doom turned his efforts to more peaceful pursuits, working with Kihl to prepare various bastions of defense around the world. The Last Battle of the Heroes took place on September 13, 2001, when the remaining Avengers were lost in the disaster known as Second Impact, a massive explosion on the Antarctic coast that destroyed the Savage Land and Atlantis, liquefied the Antarctic ice shelf, and sent a massive tsunami racing around the world. The resulting environmental damage, flashpoint wars, and poisoned ocean nearly halved the world's population. In the new order, Japan and the European Union of Doctor Doom are paramount, and the United States is a fading shadow of its former self, with most of the interior given over to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, haunted by warrior bands and the fearsome Wendigo. _

_Second Impact was only the first stage in Kihl's master plan. The end of the world was only the beginning. His victory assured, he set about preparing for an eschaton of his own making, a new heaven and a new earth, a new God to unchain mankind from alien gods and extra-dimensional monsters, a force of preservation and creation… under his control. _

_Little did he know that a new Age of Marvels was about to begin…_

**"STRANGE VISITORS"**

* * *

Maya didn't know what to expect when she came in to work that morning. Dr. Akagi was back, and she was happy for that- she, along with everyone else, thought Ritsuko was dead, disappeared after her plane went down in Russia. The rumors started when the elder Dr. Akagi died the same night. Her death was ruled a suicide, but Maya thought it was an accident. Naoko Akagi was anything but suicidal, insistent to anyone who would hear that Ritsuko was alive. Maya admired her greatly, but not in the way she admired Ritsuko. She was so brave and strong to get up after only a few days in the hospital and come to work, and with her back the way it was. It made Maya flinch every time she saw Ritsuko's pained grimace and limp.

She ran her card through the reader and stepped into the lab. Some of the other techs waved at her, and she waved back, ducking between them. Ritsuko's private office and lab were further down. Now that Maya was her assistant again, she had clearance to visit her. She still remembered the way the woman shrieked when Maya gave her the news, a cry to saw through bone. The normally jovial atmosphere in the labs was gone. Before she left, people used to call Ritsuko Doctor Pullring or Doctor Bubble Butt. If Maya heard any of that today, she would report them to the Commander herself.

She needed to run her card and put her hand on a reader, a pane of glass that glowed as it scanned her palm and fingers, to enter the secure lab. In comparison to the clean, brightly lit engineering labs, the classified labs were dimly lit. Ritsuko and her mother both preferred it that way. The place was chaos- a forest of coffee cups that no one had moved since Naoko died, piles of books and printouts and papers. The whole room was classified for that reason- neither woman was especially neat. Naoko used to rant whenever anyone brought up her slobbery, that there was a difference between organized and neat and most people preferred the latter to strongly. Maya missed her.

Ritsuko was in the lab. She hadn't bleached her hair, which must have been shaved or close cropped during her captivity. It wasn't long enough to be called a bob, but evidently long enough to constantly need to be brushed out of her eyes, and was a healthy chestnut brown. She was throwing the coffee cups away, dumping the stale old coffee into a bucket and the cups into a plastic bag. Her face was a blank mask, but brightened a little when she saw Maya.

"I hate this," she whispered.

Maya moved closer. "Want some help?"

Ritsuko nodded, and Maya joined her, cleaning up the old coffee.

"You know," said Ritsuko, "when I came in here this morning, I'd forgotten she was gone, that she's dead. I thought…" her voice cracked. "I thought she'd be sitting at her console, and turn around and scold me for being late."

Shakily, she lit a cigarette, taking a long drag that made the tip glow brightly in the room. "She's really gone. I…"

She dropped the bag, and a paper cup rolled across the floor, the inside stained dark by the old coffee. Maya stared straight ahead, frozen in place, trying to figure out what to do. Slowly, she picked up the cup and put in the bag and took over, dumping out the rest of them until the chaos was a little cleaner. She pulled the bag and bucket out of the lab and locked the door. Ritsuko was still standing frozen on the spot, like a statue, her eyes sort of dull. Maya walked over to her and haltingly reached out, resting a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but a little life came back into her gaze and she smiled, if weakly.

"Thank you," Ritsuko murmured.

She walked back to her desk and Maya followed. Sitting amid the clutter was a black vase, with something etched on a brass plate fixed to the front. Ritsuko went about clearing the pile so she could move the vase close to the wall and keep it safe from being knocked off. Maya realized, with a start, what it was. Ritsuko picked up her mother's ashes and touched her forehead to the cool black stone and choked back a sob, then tucked her against the wall, sitting on a battered old engineering textbook.

"She would want it this way," Ritsuko said, her voice thick with strain. "This was her home. She would want to stay here with us."

Maya nodded, rubbing her arms. She didn't know what to say.

"She was a good person. I miss her." She stopped short of saying _we_; she couldn't really speak for the other techs.

Ritsuko flopped down in her chair and blew out a long line of smoke, then ground out her cigarette in the ash tray. "I should quit smoking these damned things."

"Have you heard anything from the Commander?" said Maya.

Ritsuko's hands were shaking. "I got an email. I get back pay and I'm the head of the Evangelion Division now. I get to name my assistant. You have the job, if you want it."

"Of course. An email? That's it?"

Ritsuko snorted. "It's like she just walked off the job and didn't come back. I just got some stares when I came in." She touched her hair. "I think they thought I was her. Hyuga looked like he'd seen a ghost."

"I'm glad you're here," said Maya. "Summers was trying to take over the Division."

Ritsuko snorted. "I'll skin that bitch if she so much as touches my keyboard."

Maya blinked. "Oh."

Ritsuko hugged herself, folding her arms under her breasts. "I can't do this. I have to go home. I can't… my mother is _dead."_

Maya shifted on her feet.

"I'm taking lunch. Will you come with me?"

Maya nodded, and Ritsuko got up. She took a moment to clean her face with the corner of her lab coat and shrugged out of it, leaving it lying across the back of her chair like a shed skin. She wore a tight sweater that covered her to the neck and loose slacks. Maya's gaze drooped to the older woman's hips before she looked away. She'd lost weight while she was in captivity, and seemed leaner now, harder… but she was beautiful. She had high cheek bones and big green eyes that looked like they'd scene too much, and a pursed rosebud of lips with a beauty mark on her chin, just under her eye. Her mother was a handsome woman, but Ritsuko was a bombshell. Maya felt jealous and… something else by turns, whenever she was in the room.

Ritsuko seemed to notice her attentions, and coughed. "Shall we?"

Maya nodded and took off her own labcoat. She didn't rank highly enough to wear whatever she wanted, so she wore the standard black uniform.

"Don't come in here dressed that way tomorrow," said Ritsuko. "I hate that uniform."

"But…"

"I'm your boss. I make the rules. There's going to be some changes around here."

Maya nodded, and followed her out. She saw what Ritsuko meant as she passed by the workstations. The technicians stared at Ritsuko like she was a phantom, and looked nervous when she met their gaze. She seemed angrier than she ever had before. In her mother's presence, she's almost been meek. Ritsuko had all the keys in a ring in her pocket. She could make the elevators come right to her, and she knew the corridors like the back of her hand. In a few minutes, and without passing through the Eva cage, they were outside, walking across the floor of the Geofront.

"I'm not hungry," said Ritsuko. "We'll get some food later. I think we're going to be pulling some all-nighters for a while."

"Why?" said Maya. "I mean, the Evas are all rated for full operational status…"

"By who?" Ritsuko demanded. "I want to know that they're right. This place will go to hell if you let it. Everybody around here things that the Evas are a big joke, a waste of money, that the attack will never come. Humanity is not going to be caught with its pants down because my underlings got lazy."

Maya nodded. "It was Summers that made us move them to operational status. She…"

"I hate that woman," said Ritsuko. "She's got half the complex to herself, and no one knows what she's doing."

"I've never been down there," said Maya. "She doesn't have many people under her division. We try to get some info out of them, but they… they're all real quiet. It's freaky."

Ritsuko looked up at the artificial sky. A tear was glittering on her cheek, and she wiped it away. Out here, it was peaceful. There were trees, and the air was cool and dry, and smelled of turned earth from the agricultural fields on the other side of the artificial lake. Maya had always wanted to go swimming in there. Some of the techs did, now and then. Maya couldn't even bring herself to swim in the pool in the staff gymnasium; she was too shy to walk around in even a modest bathing suit in front of mixed company, and the thought of one brought back bitter memories of high school taunts.

"Should I bring her out here?" said Ritsuko. "Out here where there's some sun and trees, instead of that lab. Should I do that?"

Maya blinked. "I don't know."

"I can't," said Ritsuko. "She's not resting."

"What do you mean?"

Ritsuko was shaking. "Maya, if you tell anyone about this, it could mean your life. I'm not kidding."

Maya blinked. "I don't…"

"No bugs out here," said Ritsuko, "No one listening. I need someone else to hear it. I need to know I'm not crazy."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. It wasn't Nerv issue. Maya's throat went dry.

"You can walk away," said Ritsuko. "Go back to work, live your life. I won't demote you or treat you any differently, but you're the only person around here I think I can trust."

Maya nodded. "What is it?"

Ritsuko dialed the number and put the phone on speaker. Maya listened to Naoko's panicked voice, and the cackling, high pitched one that broke in on her, and the screaming, and her eyes widened. Ritsuko cut off the phone before the message ended and shoved it in her pocket, her eyes taking on that distant look again. She gazed out at the lake and the trees.

"My mother was murdered."

* * *

Hikari woke up, to the blaring bleating of her alarm clock. In reflex, she rolled over and brought her fist down on top of it, meaning to silence it by striking the snooze button. Instead, her hand mashed right through it, the clock letting out a pathetic _bloooorup_ as the alarm died. Hikari stared at it, blinking. She'd shattered it, and chunks of the plastic casing where everywhere. The now fading digital face lay dangling over the front of her nightstand, which sagged now, as the top had been split, cracked in half from the impact. She sat up, gingerly, and poked it with her finger. It swayed, the wooden sides squeaking against one another as they moved.

"Hikari?" Kodama called. "Are you okay? What was that noise?"

"I'm fine," Hikari called back, shakily. "I just hit the alarm too hard."

She felt… strange. Energized, like her legs were coiled springs, but her wrists felt sore, and were a little swollen when she touched them. As the sleeves of the old t-shirt she slept in slid back, she gasped. Her arms weren't bigger, necessarily, but they were trimmer, for lack of a better word. She could see all of the muscles moving individually when she flexed her fingers, and when she turned her hand over to look at her palm, all the veins along the underside of her arm stood out. She got up, stumbling a little, and looked in the mirror above her nightstand.

Her jaw dropped. Her waist had pulled in, tucking into a sweeping curve above her hips. She pulled her shirt up, gingerly. Her stomach was suddenly more defined than she'd ever seen it, even when she was younger and skinnier, before she started to fill out as she matured. Her abs stood out clearly, even from the side, and she had those little folds of muscle running towards her legs that only runners and volleyball players seemed to have. Her legs were the same, all toned up with the muscles picked out clearly, even her calves. She pulled the shirt over her head and stared at herself. Her shoulders were as defined as her arms and the rest of her, and when she twisted, tight cords of muscle stood out on her back. She was almost as muscular as Mari, and she didn't remember being so… endowed the day before.

She needed a shower. She was covered in clammy sweat, and the straps of her bra were pulling at her shoulders and back, and it felt uncomfortably tight around her chest. She pulled her shirt back on and walked out into the hallway gingerly, and before she took two steps a painful surge of hunger coiled in her stomach and sprung through the rest of her. She turned and almost ran into the kitchen, her mouth watering so heavily she all but drooled. When she made it, she grabbed the biggest microwave breakfast meal she could find, shoved it in the microwave, rammed some bread into the toaster, and tore into a bag of cereal, shoveling it in her mouth with her hand.

Kodama wandered into the kitchen, staring at her.

"Feed a fever, I guess. I… have you been working out, or something?"

Hikari stared, and looked down. But for the handful of little oat rings in her hand, she'd emptied out the bag, five or six servings, and she was still hungry.

"What day is this?"

"Friday," said Kodama. "You have school."

"Right," said Hikari.

The microwave made a lout pinging sound, and Hikari practically tore the door off pulling out the little tray of food. She yanked the plastic sheeting off, tossed it in the sink, and started shoveling rubbery microwave eggs and sausage into her mouth with her hand. Kodama stared at her blankly, but Hikari ignored her, too driven by the howling maw in her stomach. When the tray was empty, she grabbed the toast, slathered it with butter and jelly, and ate it in two or three bites apiece, smearing jelly on her face in the process. She licked her mouth clean, and then fished through the refrigerator. She found a bottle of milk, yanked the cap off, and chugged a quart of it, took a breath, and drank the rest.

Finally, she burped. She still felt a bit peckish. There was some cheese…

"School," said Kodama.

Hikari jumped. She heard Nozomi getting up. She had to get to the bathroom. She rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and nearly crashed into the wall. She felt a weird rush when she ran, like her feet wanted to kick through the floor. She stumbled, one foot dragging behind her as though it had momentarily stuck to the floor. She brushed into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She wasn't winded from her sprint. She stared at herself in the long mirror next to the shower. Watching herself, she pulled her shirt over her head and pooled it at her feet, and finished stripping down.

_I look like a model_, she thought, staring at her body. _I didn't look like this when I went to sleep._

While she waited for the water to heat up, she set about brushing her teeth. She glanced at her hand. There wasn't a mark left from the bite. She was beginning to think she'd dreamed the whole thing. When she'd carefully brushed all her teeth, front to back, she rinsed out the brush and went to drop it back into the rack.

It was stuck to her hand.

She unfolded her fingers, bending them back a little. The handle of the brush was clinging to her palm, even when she turned it over and shook her hand. She tugged at it with her free hand, but it remained stuck. She could feel the plastic bending, on the verge of snapping, and let go. Suddenly, it dropped away and clattered in the sink. Gingerly, she picked it up -it didn't stick this time- and put it in the rack. The water was hot, and starting to steam up the bathroom. She felt pinpricks on her skin, just as she was beginning to sweat, and stepped under the hot water.

She took a quick shower, letting the water scrub the stale sweat off her skin and lightly shampooing her hair. Wrapped in a towel, she headed into her room and started drying her hair. Nozomi ran past her into the bathroom with a whooping war cry, enthused that she'd beaten Kodama, who just sighed. Hikari stepped into a pair of underwear and went to put on a bra, but the straps dug into her shoulder, and the back wouldn't clasp. Her body was too wide, and it was too small, anyway. She wrapped herself back up in the towel and poked her head into the hall.

"Hey sis, can I, um… can I borrow a bra?"

"What?" said Kodama. "I… I guess. Here."

Her hand appeared through the crack of her door, holding an elastic sports bra. Hikari snatched it, ducked back into her room, and pulled it. Miraculously, it fit her. She put on her uniform shirt next, buttoning it to the neck, and then pulled on her slacks. They were loose around the waist, but tight around her hips and backside in a way they never were before. She looked at herself in the mirror. The changes weren't as obvious, but the shirt was obviously tighter over her chest and fit her shoulders more snugly. She slipped into her shoes and picked up her hair ties, pulling her hair into two long tails behind her head, so close they were almost one. She was starting to realize that pigtails looked a little silly with the Academy's severe uniform.

Somehow, she was still hungry. She trotted down to the kitchen and opened the fridge. There was a block of tofu near expiring; she snatched it and ate it in three grimacing bites, then found some old lunch meat, and some fruit that had sat in the drawer for a while. When she was done, she'd eaten a good meal's worth of food, she had enough to pack a bento in her hands, and her stomach was still rumbling.

Kodama came down the stairs in a sweater and skirt, high heels clicking on the floor, fussing with her earrings. She stopped and looked at Hikari.

"You look different," she said. "Is it your hair?"

"Yeah," said Hikari, and burped. She covered her mouth, nearly dropping the twin handfulls of food.

She looked around. She must have left her bag at school, and with it her bento.

"I'll have to buy lunch," she sighed.

Kodama rolled her eyes and handed her a sheaf of bills. "It's on me. I should have thought of that. I'll get lunch together for Nozomi. You'd better go. You're running late."

Hikari glanced at the clock. With a start she realized she had a bare ten minutes to make the twenty minute walk to the train station to get to school. She darted though the kitchen to the hallway, trusting Kodama to lock up, and ran for the stairs. She brushed through the doors and darted down, taking the steps two at a time. She felt odd as she moved, somehow more acutely aware of her body and surroundings, a kind of intuitive knowledge. Soon, she was taking the steps three at a time, and jumped from four steps up onto the landing at the bottom, and blinked.

She'd just run down five floors, and wasn't winded. Shaking her head, she ran through the door. There was no time to check the time on her phone. She ran through the lobby of the apartment complex and out onto the sidewalk in long, loping strides, earning a few stars from the people on the street. The train was coming in; she could see it approaching on the elevated line. She pumped her legs faster, weaving between the people on the sidewalk. A knot of men stood in front of a newsstand. She ran past them, and she could swear that for a moment, her feet were on the side of the building in front of them. She ducked around a mailbox by slapping it with her hand and swiveling her feet off the ground, landing on the other side, and kept running in a dead sprint. The train station was in sight, now.

The train had stopped, and the doors opened. She ran for the entrance to the station, and when she met the first step up, jumped the next six, briefly paused on the landing, and rushed to the turnstile, fumbling for her pass. Again she stumbled, as if her foot had stuck to the ground, blushing at the bleary-eyed attendant as she rushed through, swiping her card. The conductor gave her a look, as if she wasn't going to make it, until she broke into an arm-flailing, leg-pumping run and almost jumped into the train, skidding to a stop in the middle. She found a spot in the press of people where she could grab an overhead handle and stood, taking a breath.

It came out as a stilted sigh. There was no need to catch her breath. She wasn't winded. She blinked; she should have felt her heart pounding in her chest, should have been sweating, but she almost felt cold, and when she touched her neck, her pulse was perfectly normal. The doors closed, and a moment later, the train lurched.

Something happened. It was like a buzzing in the back of her head, something crawling across the back of her neck. She reached for it, and it grew more intense, and somehow directional. She twisted in time for a hand to slide across her hip, just short of missing her backside. She turned to face the man who was trying to grope her and locked eyes on him.

Everything happened at once. She twisted, and pushed her elbow into his gut. He sagged back into the crowd with a loud grunt, then doubled over and landed on the floor, gasping for breath. Dimly, some part of Hikari was aware that she heard a loud shearing and snapping sound, and when she looked at her other hand, the handle had come loose. She glanced up. The mounting plate was twisted and deformed, the bolts sheared off.

A policeman in the odd, all-white city uniform slid through the crowd. "What's going on here?"

"That man grabbed me!" Hikari shouted, pointing at him. "He tried to touch my butt!"

The cop looked at her, and looked at him. Several of the people around her nodded, backing her up with murmurs. Another officer appeared and they dragged the man to his feet, but he doubled over and vomited on the floor, sagging against the cop, who turned his foot slightly to avoid the spillage touching his foot. His lips twisted in distaste.

"Well, I doubt he'll be doing it again. He's coming with us."

Hikari slipped away, blending into the crowd. She saw their head snap around as they looked for her, but somehow she knew where they were looking, and stepped away from those spots. She could feel their gaze, as if a physical pressure swept out of their eyes and fell wherever they looked. She bumped into another man and yelped, then blinked. He was tall, twice as wide as she, and he wasn't Japanese. Dressed in an overcoat and broad hat, he had a medical patch over one eye. He stepped between her and the police, blocking them from sight.

"Hell of an arm, kid," he said, looking her up and down. He took the broken handle from her hand. "Shoddy workmanship. Feh."

She backed away, and the train lurched as it came to a stop. Without anything to hold her up, she nearly fell, but her feet were planted to the floor. She lifted her foot and it came up with a _pop, _and it stumbled. She saw more black jackets getting off, students heading for the school, and followed them. When she glanced over her shoulder, the man with the eye patch was gone. She stumbled out onto the platform and looked around. The school was in sight, and she headed for it, falling in with the other students.

She stared at her hands.

"What's happening to me?" she murmured, looking around.

"Hikari?"

She nearly jumped a foot in the air. The only reason she didn't lift off was the balls of her feet sticking to the concrete platform. She didn't recognize the voice until she turned around.

"Hikari?" said Shinji. "That's your name, right? I should have asked yesterday. Your friends-"

She nodded, enthusiastically.

He cocked his head to the side. "You look different."

"I did my hair a new way," she said, absently.

He shook his head. "Are you alright? You looked really sick yesterday."

"I'm fine. I just got a little queasy. I don't like bugs."

She blinked. As if saying it invoked them, she looked up. There were a number of heavy beams running over the platform, part of the structure of the station in front of the school. Crawling along the undersides were four or five large spiders. More peeked out from inside the beams themselves, tiny pinprick eyes focused on her. She could almost feel them watching her.

"Shoo!" she snapped.

All at once, the tiny creatures darted off, vanishing into crevices and cracks, darting out of sight on their too-many legs. Hikari blinked.

Shinji took a step closer. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded, vigorously. "Thank you."

She was blushing; she could feel the heat up to her hairline. Damn it.

Shinji stared intently at her for a moment. "Perhaps we could-"

"Idiot! There you are."

Asuka stalked across the platform and grabbed Shinji's arm, tugging him away. Mari followed behind her, arms folded under her chest, eyeing the whole situation with a sort of wry amusement, cat-ears twitching wildly. Before she realized what she was doing, Hikari's arm shot out and she had her hand on Shinji's other arm.

"We were just talking," Hikari snapped, "Goose step your way over there and-"

"_What did you say to me?"_ Asuka hissed, brushing past Shinji.

"Hey!" Shinji shouted, pushing them apart. "Calm down, will you?"

Asuka rounded on him. "This commoner insults me and you _defend _her?"

"I didn't-" Shinji stammered, "I just-"

"Lucky boy," Mari purred, draping her arms over his shoulder. "All the girls fighting over you."

"I am not fighting over anyone," Asuka shouted, waving her arms. The other students stared, until they realized who she was, and then scurried away.

"Come on, we'll all be late," said Shinji, shrugging out from Mari's arms. "I'm sorry, Hikari. Perhaps we can speak later."

At that, Asuka eyed daggers at her.

The feeling she'd felt earlier slammed into the back of her skull. It would have made her stagger if she hadn't risen up onto the balls of her feet, hands clenched into fists at her side, and started to shift from foot to foot, ready to spring in either direction.

"What's going on here?"

Hikari's head snapped around. This day couldn't get any worse. Her crush, Mr. Lawson, was walking up to them in his overcoat and long golden scarf. His coat was a rich green that brought out his eyes, sparkling and full of a kind of wry mischief. He looked over the four of them and frowned slightly, but the corners of his mouth seemed to struggle to break into a smile.

"Well, we'll all be late, and only teachers are allowed to be late," he announced, "Let's go."

That seemed to mollify Asuka. She pulled away from Shinji, taking Mari's arm, and they walked towards the door. Shinji slowed, for a bet, and met her gaze with a slight nod before joining them. Hikari fell in step with Mr. Lawson, and realized she was clutching her hands in front of her chest like a cartoon character in a cheesy romance manga, and shoved them down to her side, unconsciously tugging at the hem of her jacket.

"I heard about yesterday, Hikari. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help. Are you alright?"

"I don't know, I…" Hikari started. "I felt really sick last night, and everything is weird this morning. I feel like… a spring."

"A spring," Lawson said, thoughtfully. "Hey, do you remember that book I promised to give you?"

Hikari shook her head.

"I suppose not. You've been busy lately."

He reached into the pocket of his coat and handed her the battered paperback book. _The Trial of Peter Parker._

Hikari took it, realized she had no bag, and folded it under her arm instead. Mr. Lawson gave her a curt nod and picked up his pace, heading for the other teachers as they walked into the building. Mr. Kimura shied away from the others, looking guilty about something. Lawson fell in step with Miss Katsuragi, and started chatting with her about something. There were rumors about them, that Mr. Lawson "liked" Miss Katsuragi. Hikari thought it was all so much nonsense. What could he possibly see in her?

Hikari hunched her shoulders, and headed for her locker. She had to get her books, get through the school day, live her life.

She had to figure out what was happening to her. She tucked the book in the side pocket of her bag as she pulled it out of her locker, and rushed to join Toji and Kensuke as they headed for class.

* * *

Shinji joined the others as they stood at attention. While the strict discipline of the Academy called for it, neither he nor any of the other boys in the class needed to be told to pay attention when Miss Katsuragi swept in, dressed in a knee-length skirt, conservative pumps and a blazer over a red blouse, a shade lighter than the ones the students wore. Despite all her efforts to dress conservatively, the eye of every boy in the room fell on her in an instant, drawn to the sway of her hips and the magnificent curve of her chest. She pushed her hair back behind her ear and fiddled with something on her desk. Half the eyes in the room snapped to the door, where Mr. Lawson was waving at her and smirking wickedly, earning him the attention of the girls and angry glares from the boys as Miss Katsuragi waved back.

As Lawson ducked out, two new students came in, new laptops slung under their arms. Shinji felt the collective swell of interest; they were both girls, and they were both exotic. Asuka, a few rows in front of him, bristled. Seated at the higher part of the lecture hall, he stared down at her head, hoping she wouldn't launch into an outburst. It would be nice if the new girls were smart enough not to provoke her. He glanced over at Hikari. He was amazed he'd never noticed her before. She was pretty in a funny way; Asuka was stunning but Hikari's freckles and blushes and big brown eyes had a quality he'd never really noticed before, that he couldn't put to words. As she leaned forward and rested on her hands, he noticed the swell of her chest under her uniform blazer and fingered his collar, making sure that his coat hung open in defiance of the dress code. Hikari seemed to feel his attention, and glanced over.

His eyes shot to the front of the classroom, and he felt a deep blush creeping up his face. He coughed a little, but no one noticed. The first girl stepped forward, looking over the class levelly with blue eyes. She must have had mixed parentage; her hair was auburn, almost red, and hung just past her ears in a sloppy bob cut. She stood and carried herself like a boy, and…

Asuka glanced over her shoulder at him. Great.

"Mana Kirishima," the redhead said, staring out at the class as if in challenge.

She stood with her shoulders squared, and Shinji could see at once that she knew how to fight. She bowed curtly and walked up to take her assigned seat, glancing at the floor as she walked up towards the back row of the lecture hall, and sat down. The next girl walked up.

Shinji studied her intently. She looked… familiar. Her eyes were a deep crimson and her skin deathly pale, but her mouth curled in a slight smile as she looked at the rest of the class. Silky, silvery hair tumbled loosely over her shoulders down to the waist. Slightly built, she slender but tall, and willowy.

"Kaworu Nagisa."

Shinji slumped in his seat. The new girl danced up the aisle, moving lightly on her feet. She gathered her hair into a loose tumble and pulled it over her shoulder as she sat down, and adjusted the collar of her blazer. The ones the girls wore were a slightly different cut, and a little tighter. She wasn't as… big as some of the other girls, but shapely in a way, almost elegant, especially when she folded her legs. Shinji glanced at her and she immediately locked eyes on him and smiled, waving, ever so slightly, with a curl of her fingers.

Suzahara leaned in from behind him. "You suck, Ikari."

Shinji jumped in his seat and Miss Katsuragi glanced up at them, frowning.

"I hope you will welcome these ladies to our school," she said cooly. "Miss Nagisa, make sure you have your hair in a regulation style on Monday."

Shinji blinked, and glanced down. Asuka wore her hair loose, too, why would-

"Laptops!" Katsuragi shouted, "We've wasted enough time, and calculus waits for no man, I-"

Lawson poked his head in the room again, and made a whip-crack motion with his hand. Shinji snorted a laugh, and heard a murmur of mirth around him. Katusragi made a shooing motion, and he pulled the door shut, disappearing into the hallway.

Shinji sighed as he pulled out his laptop. He hated computers; they had a tendency to die around him, especially if he used his powers. They didn't get on well with strong magnetic fields. He made frequent backups, but this was his sixth computer this year and "my mutant powers destroyed my homework" only worked four or five times. He opened the note taking program, and in a small window to the side, the chat program. It was sort of an open secret that the students chatted with each other during class.

Miss Katsuragi turned and started writing on the board, and Suzahara's chat tag, BEEFMAN, popped up. "DAT ASS."

Shinji angrily typed a rebuke and hit enter, and the heads of four or five girls, Hikari included, snapped around to stare at him. Asuka shot him an angry glare and typed something; it must have been a private message. Shinji decided to ignore the chat program and minimized the window, working on taking notes. Pre-calc _was_ hard, after all. He lost himself in Katsuragi's lecture, taking notes as she worked through the equations. Mid-way through, she slipped out of her jacket and draped it over the chair, and Shinji winced at the collective gasp.

He realized Hikari was staring at him, and opened the chat program. She'd sent him about a dozen private messages. "Meet me for lunch."

"I can't," he typed back, glancing at her nervously.

"Yes u can," she typed back, looking at him through the corner of her eye. "Come on."

He looked at the back of Asuka's head; she was ignoring the chat, too, busily taking notes.

"Okay," he typed back, and he heard a little squeak; Hikari had jumped in her seat.

He sighed. He was sure he'd missed something important.

* * *

Ritsuko drummed her fingers on her desk, looking at the stack of reports, requisitions, and requests. She scooped it all up, walked over to Maya, and dumped it on her lap. Maya squeaked, almost dropping her coffee, and pushed back in her rolling chair from the terminal she'd claimed at the side of the room.

"First lesson in leadership. What do you do when someone drops work in your lap?"

"Um," said Maya, eyeing her askance. "Do it?"

Ritsuko sighed, and put her fists on her hips, impatiently. "No, you find another lap to dump it on. Figure out which techs out there are wasting the most time jerking off or whatever, and give them something to do. Go, shoo."

Maya jumped up, holding the stack of papers to her chest, and rushed for the door. She glanced back at Ritsuko and headed out. The door slid shut and clicked behind her as it locked, and Ritsuko let out a slow breath. She turned around, opened her terminal, and started typing. She'd figured out how she would hide it- she had root access. It would be easy to tuck away a file directory in an innocuous place, among the MAGI's resource files. When she had the directory set up, she triple encrypted it and loaded the key onto a thumb drive, reached under her sweater, and tucked it in her bra. After she closed the file, she'd need the key to reopen it.

It was time. She started a new schematics file, using the same CAD program she used for Eva design work. She needed a title. She shrugged; if anyone made it this far, there would be no point in hiding it.

IRON MAN, she typed.

She reached into her purse and pulled it out, the innocuous looking canister she'd pulled from the suit before she hid it and limped back to civilization. She put it on the desk, tapped the side, and the top opened, exposing the tiny core, still pulsing with an inner light. She'd have to rig up a way to monitor it; it was still dangerous. She closed the containment unit again and tucked it back into her purse, and turned back to the computer, pulling out the tablet and light pen. Surprisingly, finding schematics for Stark's early work wasn't particularly hard; it was only the work he'd done after about '72 or so that he actively destroyed, keeping his secrets all to himself. Before Second Impact, the Mark I suit he used to escape from captivity in Korea was on display in a Manhattan museum, even.

She had more resources than that, though. She had the Evas. What were they, after all, but huge suits of armor? Stark's work was just a start, and the more she looked at it, the more she could see the similarities between the Iron Man suit she'd pulled apart, and the Eva. She needed it to be smaller, lighter, and to be able to suit up on her own. She wasn't going to face her mother's murderer in her own skin, that was for sure. It would be a lot of work. She needed to figure out how to get the suit in, scan the parts, and work from there; doing it all from scratch would take months, even before she figured out how she could hide the process of bashing together a proof of concept to try the damned thing on.

Maya slipped back in, and she hurriedly closed the file.

"What was that?"

"I was just looking at some of the shoulder pylon modifications," she said, as calmly as she could. "I didn't authorize any of this."

"Oh," said Maya. "We were having trouble with the restraints on Unit Zero, so we…"

Ritsuko blinked, and looked at the screen. There was a list of directories, and at the bottom of the list was one that wasn't supposed to be there.

"Shush, Maya," she said, opening the errant directory. Inside was nothing but a text file, and it was blank, but the file name was ileftsomethingforyouinthecor e dot txt. Ritsuko quickly returned to the command line and turned around.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"The pylons," said Maya, "We modified them after the berserker incident earlier this year. Doctor Summers…"

Ritsuko made a hissing sound though her teeth. "I see. Well, I'll take a look at them."

"I thought you were looking at them," said Maya.

Ritsuko sighed. "I'm tired. I'm sorry. How long have we been here?"

Maya glanced at her watch. "Six hours."

Ritsuko sighed and threw her head back against the chair. "How are you so perky? Stop doing that. Stop perking."

Maya shuffled uncomfortably. "Are you alright? I mean I know you're not, I just… you're acting funny."

Ritsuko sat up. "Maya, did you ever think that you might be wasting your life?"

Maya looked around. "…no?"

"Oh bullshit," said Ritsuko. "Yes, you do. How many hours have you worked this week?"

Maya rolled her eyes, not in derision but concentration, her mouth working silently as she did the math. "Seventy-five."

Ritsuko sat up, rolling onto her feet, and a wave of fatigue forced her back down. "Go home, and don't come back for twelve hours. Don't look at me like that," she said as Maya pouted, "You're not in trouble. What is it, Friday?"

Maya nodded.

"Shit. I've got something to do, and then I'm going home. I promise."

Relaxing a little, the girl nodded, hung her lab coat on the peg, and turned.

"Remember," Ritsuko called, "No uniform!"

Maya looked over her shoulder and nodded. Ritsuko waited a moment, then grabbed her purse, slung it on her shoulder, and headed out, ignoring the stares of the technicians. There was one more thing she needed to do, one more person she needed to see. She was not going to hide from Gendo Ikari. She took the elevator up, out of the underground complex, and into the Pyramid proper, where Gendo kept his lair. She gave the security staff a hard look as she walked into the executive offices, and down the long corridor to Ikari. People called it Walking the Mile when they were called up to speak to him. Ritsuko laughed at herself for going voluntarily.

She'd never been close to the man, for sure. He was cold, in his way, but had an air of command she sometimes envied, but there was something off, something that bothered her. When she first arrived, she had something of a crush on him, even though he was old enough to be her father. Her mother quickly disabused her of any such notions; Naoko was terrified of him. Something about that made her skip a step, but she pressed on. His office was enormous, all black with a sepulchral air, like a tomb. He had a preference for Western religious art, woodcuts from the Divine Comedy and a Tree of Life etched on the celling, made to glow and reflect on the floor. The door stood slightly ajar, and Ritsuko was about to push it open when she heard a soft sound that could only be a woman's gasp.

Leaning to the side, she peered into the office. Gendo was in his oversized chair, and in his lap was Natalie Summers, and other than her skirt, hiked up to the curve of her backside, she wore nothing but a black bra and stockings, and the bra was hanging on for dear life, with the straps pulled down over her arms. Gendo ran his fingers through her loose, coal-black hair and traced his thumb over her lips. If she started sucking his thumb, Ritsuko was going to vomit.

She backed away from the door, heart pounding in her chest. She turned, and as quietly as she could, headed back down the hall, teeth clenched, fists curled so tight that her fingernails threatened to draw blood from her palm. That bastard! In his office, no less. She earned some stares as she passed through the offices. Fuyutsuki was walking out of his office and started at her appearance, almost dropping her coffee.

"God, I thought you were her."

Ritsuko slowed. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Come in for a minute," said Fuyutsuki. He was the Executive Officer, he could give her orders. She followed him into his office, and pulled the door shut.

"What?" she said, curtly. "I'm busy, I-"

"Yes, I know," said Fuyutsuki, smoothly. "It has to be a hell of a thing, picking your life up after what, almost a year?"

"Nine months," said Ritsuko. "All of my Earthly possessions are sitting in an empty apartment in one of the housing blocks. I should be glad it wasn't all burned."

"We never lost hope you would come back," said Fuyutsuki. "I can't imagine the Evangelion Division without an Akagi at the head. I'm very sorry for your loss, Ritsuko."

He seemed to mean it. She softened a little, biting her lip. She looked down; she didn't want the Old Man to see her tearing up.

Fuyutsuki leaned over and opened his bottom drawer, and pulled out a crystal decanter full of brown liquid. He poured two glasses, and pushed one to her. She snatched it up and barely remembered to clink glasses with him.

"To absent friends," said Fuyutsuki. There was something haunted in his eyes. How much did he know?

Ritsuko wanted desperately to slam back the whole thing, but she took a neat sip, as did he.

He looked around. "There are rumors that your mother's death wasn't an accident."

She froze.

He sighed. "I believe it was. It happens. She'd been working for almost thirty-six hours. You know how frantic the pace was, and with you gone for the conference, she had to do it all herself. We've settled in now, but Ikari had on us a war footing for weeks there, like he was expecting something."

Ritsuko relaxed a little, sipping more whisky to keep from sighing too hard. Did he know something or not? What rumors?

He put the glass on his desk and turned it in his fingers. "I was never especially close to her, but she was a good woman, in her way. She could be abrasive, but she cared deeply for people, even if she didn't show it."

He fixed his gaze on her. "I think she might have cared too deeply."

Ritsuko nodded and finished her drink. It gave her a warmth she'd been missing for a while. "Thank you."

Fuyutsuki nodded. "Watch yourself. The walls have ears around here. I wouldn't want a woman in mourning to be part of any ugly rumors."

She stood up, resting the glass on his desk, and stepped out of the room. Her hands were shaking, until she stuffed them in her pocket. Shoulders hunched, she walked back to the elevators. She was the head of the Evangelion Division, so all she had to do to access the CIC, where the MAGI cores stood, was type the cod into the elevator. She hit the button and sagged against the back wall.

The doors opened and Ryoji Kaji stepped in.

Ritsuko stood straight up, her eyes wide. "What the _fuck_ are you doing here?"

Kaji shrugged, ponytail swaying. "I'm a Special Inspector for Nerve, now. I'm inspecting."

"Inspecting what, the female staff?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Volunteering?"

"Go to hell," she said, angrily. "I'm going to a classified area. Go inspect somewhere else."

He pushed the button for another floor, and when the elevator reached it, he stepped hurriedly through the opening doors, but turned to glance over his shoulder at her.

"Watch yourself, Rits."

She folded her arms under her chest. "I'll bet you haven't even seen her."

He flinched. "No, and it's staying that way. I'll see you around, Ritsuko."

The doors slid closed with a clatter and she stepped back. The floor indicator ticked over to the red band; she was into he classified lower levels of the command center now. As it pulled to a stop, she stepped out. The CIC was as cold as a tomb, empty and lit by red lamps overhead, surprisingly dim with everything shut off. There was no need to come down here except for physical maintenance on the MAGI system, but she checked anyway, walking around the elevated upper level where the Commander and XO stood, and then headed down the side stair to the main level, and then the ladder down to the Cores. She took another look around, to make sure she was alone, and moved to the cores. There were three of them, great slabby metal things the size of a car, packed full of the guts of the MAGI, wires and circuit boards and artificial brains and brass plates inscribed with sorcerous symbols and witchy glyphs.

There were three nodes, each based on Naoko's personal philosophy and personality; Melchior, Naoko as scientist, Balthasar, Naoko as mother, Casper, Naoko as woman. She had to decide which one would have something hidden in it for her.

Balthasar. The mother. She moved to the central node and started undoing the clamps that held the hatch, checking over her shoulder as she did. The command center remained dark and quiet, the LCL coolant tanks for the cores quietly circulating below. The hatch came up smoothly on hydraulic pistons and she crawled inside on her hands and knees. A switch turned on a runner of florescent lights along the low ceiling. It was a tight fit, and her back gave her a twinge, but she managed to turn around and draw the hatch down. She'd have to recharge her artificial spine, soon.

Slowly, she made her way through the crawl space, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. There were sticky notes everywhere, detailing the functions of all the components. She crawled through the hot corridor, feeling the first prickles of sweat on her forehead, if it wasn't from nerves. Sitting at the very back, she looked around. Nothing looked amiss. It was possible that she simply picked the wrong core; she had a two out of three chance of choosing wrong, after all. It just seemed like something Mother would do.

She happened to glance to her left, and there was a sticky note that said "HERE". Ritsuko tugged it loose, and the panel under it shifted with a click; the screws had been pulled out. Inside was a terminal, and attached to it was a pair of ear buds. She pulled it out, stuck the headphones in her ears, and shifted it on to her lap, lifting lid. It started to play a video file automatically. Naoko, sitting in the same spot where she sat now, bathed in red light.

"If you're watching this, you didn't listen to me."

Ritsuko shuddered. Her mother's voice.

"I come in here to think, sometimes. It's peaceful, and I… feel like I belong."

She looked around.

"There are a lot of things I never said to you, daughter. Things I should say to your face, but I'm too cowardly, so I leave them here. I hope if anything happens to me, you'll find this. I know you will. I've done extraordinary and terrible things in my life, Ritsuko. I hope you could forgive me for half of them, if you knew."

On screen, she looked around. "I used to think this was my life's work. Then… something has come up. I learned something I shouldn't have. The Contact Experiment, Ritsuko. Someone tampered with it. Yui Ikari's death wasn't an accident. I've tried to find out who… Gendo wouldn't know how, Fuyutsuki loves her. I don't know who did it. I tried, but I failed. If you're watching this, it probably means I got too close."

She stared into the screen quietly for a time. Her lips curled into a faint smile. "I love you. I spent my life building this computer, but my greatest creation is you."

Ritsuko slapped the computer closed and yanked the earbuds out of her ear, stifling a sob. Slowly, she put the terminal back, or started to.

She stopped, and pulled it back out. She closed out the file, stuck her thumb drive in the computer, and downloaded it. Then, she put it back against her chest, where it belonged. The next thing she did was plug the terminal into the core itself, and start typing.

If she siphoned off two percent of the MAGI's cycles, no one would notice. That would be all she needed to complete the design, and there was an unused lab off from the main one, where the sub-assemblies for the Eva knee joints were built. It had everything she needed to fabricate armor.

It might work.

* * *

The moment Hikari dreaded was on her. She was standing in the locker room, surrounded by stripping teenage girls. The new girls were being shown their lockers by the gym teacher, a sturdy woman named Yoshida who brooked no nonsense in her class. If she had to put her bathing suit on today, it wouldn't fit, she was sure. Thankfully, it was to be an indoor class. She stepped out of her slacks and waited for the inevitable comment, then kept on, until she was down to her skivvies and pulling on her shorts. No one noticed.

She laughed to herself. Of course no one would notice, why would they care if her appearance changed if they never noticed her before? She glanced around. Kirishima seemed totally uninterested in the other students. Nagisa had the locker next to hers, and shifted about nervously, remaining dressed in her red shirt much longer than the other girls, glancing around nervously. Hikari pulled her shorts up and dumped the loose cotton shirt over her head. Nagisa blushed and pulled on her shorts, but hadn't taken her blouse off yet.

"You can't wear that," Hikari whispered, leaning over to her.

"I know, but I didn't, I'm not… I'm not prepared for this."

Hikari scratched her chin. "I'll turn my back. No one will see you."

Nagisa nodded thankfully, and Hikari stepped in front of her, planting her hands on her hips and her feet apart, blocking the view as Nagisa hastily slipped out of her blouse and pulled on her t-shirt. Hikari reached into her locker and pulled out a spare bra and handed it over to her.

"Put this on under your shirt."

Nagisa's cheeks reddened and she took the undergarment, pulling her arms into her sleeves to slip it on without exposing herself. Hikari reached under her shit to do up the clasp for her and set the straps.

"Thank you," said Nagisa. "You should call me Kaworu."

"Hikari," said Hikari, shrugging. "You're new, huh?"

Kaworu nodded and gathered her hair up behind her head, trying to twist it into a kind of braid. Hikari pulled one of her hair bands free, did her hair up into a single ponytail, and gave it to her. She blinked, and then redid her own hair.

"Your hair is really beautiful," said Hikari. "It's so shiny."

"Thank you," she said, blushing again.

"Come one, we'll be late."

Kaworu followed her out into the gymnasium. The girls were all lined up at their marks for the warm up, five minutes of jogging around the gym. When the teacher gave the order, they all moved lightly and reluctantly forward, except Mari, who bolted, pulling far ahead of everyone else with long loping strides until she went around the entire line and caught up to Asuka again, slowing as they jogged together. From looking at her, Hikari was reasonably certain she did not, in fact, have a tail. The short shorts made that abundantly clear, as did her tendency to knot her shirt behind her back and expose her well-muscled midriff. She turned her nose up as she walked beside Asuka, studiously ignoring everyone in the room.

Hikari realized she was jogging almost the front of the line and wasn't even breathing hard. She'd begun to think everything that morning was a dream. The teacher blew her whistle and called for the students to follow her outside, holding the door open onto the track. Hikari fell in step with the other new girl, Kirishima.

"Hi," she said.

"Go fuck yourself," Kirishima said.

Kaworu appeared behind her. "She did that to me, too."

Hikari stared after Mana as she jogged.

"Weigh in!" The coach called, and the girls lined up.

Hikari hated this part. Who the hell had the idea they should line up and have the coach call out everyone's weight? Asuka stepped up, and the teacher called "One fifteen!" and Asuka flounced away, lining up on the marks on the track. Mari stepped up, and the coach called "One eighty five!" and stared at her for a moment. Hikari blinked; Mari didn't look that heavy. Mana stepped on the scale.

"Two-fifty… wait, what?"

Mana stepped down and took her place on the line, bouncing on her feet. The teacher waved the rest of them off; the scale was messed up, somehow. Hikari took her place, leaning forward with her feet in the blocks. The teacher loaded up the starter pistol and aimed it skyward.

"Whoever wins the first lap," she cried, "is done for the day."

Almost casually, she pulled the trigger.

Hikari bolted.

She ran wildly, her arms and legs pumping, leaving the ground for a bare second with each stride. Everyone, even Asuka, fell behind, all except Mari. Clenching her teeth, her face a mask of focus, the taller girl started to edge ahead of her, leaning into the first turn. Hikari blinked, and leaned into her run, clenching her teeth, focusing on _moving_, and started to pull ahead again. She was halfway around the track from the rest of the pack, her and Mari, neck and neck. Mari let out a strange noise, almost an animal yowl, and dropped to all fours, charging forward on her hands and feet, like a damned cat. Hikari grunted and picked up her pace, half jumping with each stride, barely keeping up with her. The finish was just ahead, and Hikari made the final push, pulling ahead of Mari at the last second. She skidded to a stop, stumbling as she came up on the teacher. Mari gave her a hard look as she slowed a bit, made the turn, and sprinted for the rest of the pack, ready to take the second lap.

"Horaki, isn't it?" said the teacher.

"Yeah," Hikari panted.

"Never seen anyone beat Makinami before. Go hit the showers."

Hikari nodded and walked back towards the door. She blinked when she realized she didn't even feel winded anymore. It was like she hadn't been running at all. She stepped into the gym, breathing in the cool air, and glanced at the high jump bar with the heavy pad behind it. She glanced back, then looked at the pad again and ran for it, full tilt. When she neared the bar, she jumped without dipping, just sprang from a standing start.

She cleared the bar. She sailed over the bar, over the mat, and saw the wall rushing to meet her. She put her hands out and slapped into the concrete block with a heavy slap, and hung there, blinking. Her hands were pressed flat against the wall, her feet dangling under her. She looked down. There was nothing holding her up. She looked at her hands.

Slowly, she pulled one from the wall, and stared at her palm. She was holding herself up, one armed. She reached up, planted it to the wall, and pulled herself up, expecting to fall when she let go with the other hand. She didn't. She put her feet on the wall, pulled her hands back, and stood straight out, then pumped her legs and jumped. Twisting in the air was easy, natural. She landed in a crouch, a perfect dismount on the hard floor, as if she'd done it a thousand times.

There was a pull up bar on the side wall. She walked over to it, reached up, and took hold. With one arm, she easily lifted herself from the ground and held it, hanging in space from one curled arm. She continued, pushing down until she did a one-armed dip, lifting herself up over the bar, and then dropped to the floor, again without difficulty. She glanced at the weight room.

She had to know.

She crept inside. It was empty; the boys must have been somewhere else. The equipment was all strange to her. She'd never done any weight lifting before, but she figured out quickly that she was supposed to lift the bar on one of the racks over her head. She picked it up, expecting to be heavy, but it might as well have been weightless, so she grabbed one of the biggest plates she could find, solid iron and wider than her chest, and slid it over the end of the bar, and then another on the other side. When she picked up the other one, she realized she was holding it with one hand, easily.

She stepped under the bar and shifted it in her hand, trying to get under it so she wouldn't hurt herself.

It lifted like nothing at all. She let go with one hand, holding it at an odd angle, one handed. Slowly, she lowered it back into the rack, and put more plates on. She picked it up again, and again it felt like it weight nothing at all. She put more plates on plate after plate until she couldn't fit anymore and the bar bent from their weight, stepped under it, and lifted it straight up. She lowered it, put one hand in the center, and lifted. Somehow, she knew her feet were stuck to the floor. She felt a little flex in her belly, but that was it. She lowered the bar back into the rack and counted the plates, doing the math in her head, and she staggered backwards, breathing hard, not from exertion but shock.

She'd just lifted a half a ton over her head. With one arm. It was _easy_.

Stripping the plates off as quickly as she could, Hikari put everything as she found it, then ran for the locker room, and into the shower. It was almost lunchtime. She stepped out of her clothes and into a stall, and slapped the button that turned on the hot water, breathing in the steam in relief. She scrubbed herself thoroughly, listening as the other girls all came panting in, turning on the water themselves. As she wrapped herself in her towel, she heard a high-pitched scream.

Kaworu was standing in a stall, wrapped up in her shower curtain, her thick hair a wet tussle clinging to her shoulder.

"They took my towel!" she shrieked.

The teacher, standing outside, grunted noncommittally. "Just go get another one. Nothing we haven't all seen before."

Kaworu whimpered, clutching her curtain.

"Who took it?" said Hikari.

Every head in the room snapped around to stare at her. Hikari snorted, then went to the rack and grabbed a spare towel. Asuka's hand clamped around her arm before she reached the silver-haired girl.

"You heard what the teacher said," Asuka hissed, coldly.

Hikari shook out of her grasp. "Back off, Red. I've had it up to here with you."

Asuka's eyes narrowed. "What did you say?"

To Hikari's utter shock, Mana stepped up next to her and folded her arms under her chest. "You heard her. Back off."

Asuka blinked, and drew her hand back. She looked at Mari, and they retreated, walking back out into the locker room. The other girls were filing out. Mana looked at her and nodded, and followed them. Hikari moved to Kaworu handing her the tail.

"Hikari," said Kaworu, "I need help. There's something wrong with me."

"What?" said Hikari.

"I'm bleeding."

Hikari blinked. "What, did you fall or something?"

"No, I… I'm _bleeding_," she whimpered. "It won't stop."

Hikari's jaw dropped. "Wait, what? Do you mean-"

Finally, the teacher stepped in the room. "I'll handle this, Horaki. Go to class."

"But-"

The teacher rolled her eyes. "I know how the plumbing works, kid. I've had one longer than you."

"I.. Kaworu? I'll see you at lunch, okay? You'll be okay. It's normal."

"How is this _normal?"_ Kaworu shouted, shaking the shower curtain.

The teacher began talking to her in a soothing voice, and Hikari realized she needed to dress, or she'd be late for class.

* * *

At lunch, the students were free to eat in the cafeteria, or on the expansive grounds of the school. Shinji waited near the line, holding his lunch tray in one hand, trying to make himself small so Asuka wouldn't notice him, while keeping an eye out for Hikari at the same time. He spotted them both. Asuka was easy to pick out, she had an orbit of other girls surrounding her at all times, and Mari was a head taller than all the others. His breath caught; he swore she could hear him breathing sometimes. He saw Hikari and motioned with his head towards the door, using another group of boys as camouflage as he passed out of the building into the warm air. Hikari caught up to him a moment later, carrying a tray in either hand, laden with food. The Nagisa girl was with her, following along behind, looking around nervously, and her eyes red as if she'd been crying. When they were out of Mari range, Shinji spoke.

"Hey," he said to the Nagisa girl, "Are you okay? You look upset?"

"She's having a bad day," Hikari explained.

Shinji looked at the food trays. "You must be hungry."

"I'm not," Nagisa said, quietly. "This is for her."

Shinji blinked, but said nothing. He guided them to an out of the way spot, under a tree, and sat down, leaning against the trunk. Hikari sat next to him and Nagisa sat next to her. Hikari immediately began shoveling food in her mouth, looked at him self-consciously, and then started eating again as if she were starving and she'd found the last food on Earth. She chugged a cup of soup, ate three sandwiches, and stuffed an entire cup's worth of noodles in her mouth and then, more slowly, started on the second tray.

"Sorry," she said, blushing and shrugging her shoulders. "Gym class took a lot out of me."

Nagisa flinched. Shinji eyed her, but kept his mouth closed.

"So," said Shinji.

Hikari choked down a mouthful of food. "So," said Hikari. "Why do you let her treat you like that? You'd think you're married to her."

Shinji chewed his sandwich thoughtfully, and stared at the ground. "I kind of am."

Hikari froze. "What?"

"We're betrothed."

Hikari stared at him, blankly.

"It means we're engaged, but-"

"I know what betrothed means," said Hikari. "Who the hell gets betrothed?"

"Princesses," Shinji sighed.

Her eyes opened even wider. Nagisa's jaw dropped.

Hikari's friends were approaching, Suzahara and Aida.

"You don't sound happy about it," said Hikari.

Shinji blew his hair out of his eyes, and rested his chin in his hand. "It wasn't exactly my idea. Her father and my father talked to each other, and the next thing I know, I'm going to marry her when we both 'come of age'."

"You don't like her?" said Hikari. She seemed oddly intent when she asked that.

"Well… not in that way. I know how she comes off, but she's not a bad person. She really isn't."

Nagisa snorted. Loudly. Hikari looked at her and nudged her with her elbow.

"I knew her from when she was nine," said Shinji. "She's kind of like… my sister. I don't know why she's so mean to everyone here. She wasn't like that before. Well, she was, but not all the time."

He looked at his feet. "Okay, most of the time. I just know it's not really her. You have to trust me."

Hikari was grinning widely for some reason. Until Aida and Suzahara walked up and dropped in the grass behind him.

"What are you doing poaching all the girls?" said Suzahara, nudging Aida to join in. "Your wife is going to skin you."

"Fiancée," Hikari corrected.

"Wait, what?" said Aida.

"I don't think that's the right word. We're betrothed, not engaged," said Shinji.

"They're the same thing," said Hikari.

"They are not," said Shinji.

Aida was pulling out his phone. "I'll look it up."

A moment later, he frowned. "It's not on Wikipedia. There's an article about betrothal but it doesn't say what you call a betrothed person. A betrothee?"

"What the hell does betrothed mean?" said Suzahara.

Shinji shoved his head in his hands, and sighed.

* * *

"I want you to shave," Summers murmured, rubbing her cheek against Gendo's chin.

"No," said Gendo.

A light on his desk flashed, and he sighed. "Out. Now."

She pouted, stood up, and sashayed to where she'd left her blouse and lab coat, pulling her bra straps up as she did. She blew him a kiss, red eyes leering at him, and swayed out of the room with an exaggerated swagger. He hated being interrupted, but it was of no consequence. His budget meeting with Dr. Summers could be taken care of later. When she pulled the door closed, he tucked his shirt in and tapped the button on his desk.

He flinched when Kihl's face appeared in front of him. If it really was his face, withered and ancient, just a chin beneath an iron mask with an inset visor.

"Ikari," Kihl hissed, "The prophesied time is upon us. The Third will make landfall on your shores in twenty four hours. See that you are prepared."

Without further comment, and without leaving him time to reply, the holographic display winked out.

Gendo adjusted himself and stood up, finishing the job of tucking in his shirt, and picked up his jacket.

It was time to wake Rei.


	4. Powers and Abilities

_Previously on... _

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_After suffering a strange reaction to a spider bite on a school field trip, Hikari Horaki awoke to find herself changed. She was stronger, faster, more muscular, and ravenously hungry. As she learned the extent of her powers, she confronted Asuka Soryu von Doom and rescued Kaworu Nagisa from her bullying. Meanwhile, Ritsuko Akagi began the process of reintroducing herself to Nerv and taking her mother's place as the chief engineer of the Eva division, and Gendo received a cryptic warning that the promised time is at hand..._

* * *

**"POWERS AND ABILITIES"**

* * *

Hikari desperately wanted this day to be over. Between Shinji, Asuka, and Kaworu, she'd had a belly fully of weirdness.

Unlike traditional schools, like the middle school she'd attended, the Academy followed the American model- the students moved from class to class, while the teachers stayed in the same room, even if they all looked the same. Hikari perched in her seat in the back row- for some reason, being elevated above the others at the top of the lecture hall felt more natural, and she felt an itch to climb the wall- and thought, realizing she was losing track of Mr. Lawson's lecture, something that had never happened before. Shinji wasn't in this class, which only made her think about him more.

She should have put him out of her mind. There was a certain danger in messing around with the boy who'd somehow been committed to marry the daughter of Doctor Victor Freaking von Doom, but there was something about him, a quiet way that he had, and… _he was cute_. Hikari scratched her head and slumped into the chair, trying to banish his blue eyes and quiet smile from her mind, and the way he somehow made his uniform look _good_.

Of course, Toji and Kensuke had to show up and ruin things. Hikari sighed.

Sakura leaned over to her. Toji's sister was eerily similar to him -she would be, they were twins- and nudged Hikari's elbow. She opened the chat and found an invite to a private session. Sakura slumped in her seat and tried to look casual as she typed.

"What's wrong?"

Hikari shrugged. "Boys."

"Heh," Sakura typed back, followed by an audible snicker. Then, a moment later, "What's his name? It's not my brother, is it?"

"Shinji," Sakura typed, glancing around.

"He's cute."

Hikari put chin on her hand and shook her head, dismissing the window. They could talk later, she had to concentrate. Lawson was moving around the front of the lecture hall, speaking in grandiose tones, talking with his hands in his excited, foreign way. He was a master storyteller, and he seemed to speak individually to her.

"The most important event after the trial was the passage of the Power and Responsibility Act, which became a model for international legislation, including Japan's own Mask Law. The Act did not simply ban superheroics, it banned all masked activity, and authorized the governors of the American states to call on the National Guard and request federal aid in dealing with masked criminals."

Hikari's hand shot up, and when his green eyes leveled on her, she felt a twinge of excitement. "What about Dr. Doom?"

She realized what she'd said and froze. At the front of the room, Asuka sat up and turned around, very slowly, and faced her. Lawson ignored it.

"Well, Hikari, the good Doctor certainly wears a mask, and since he's never been _convicted_ of anything, I'd hesitate to call him a criminal. No law is perfect. Many masked individuals of dubious morality operated internationally or were heads of state themselves, and not under any jurisdiction. Others flouted the law, but were forced underground. The changes that Second Impact brought largely crippled the international fraternity of masked criminals, and as the more prominent ones aged and retired, died, or faced capture, fewer and fewer rose to replace them.

"The law was sponsored by then senator J. Jonah Jameson, author of the pro Spider-Man treatise _The Trial of Peter Parker._ Spider-Man was of course an influential figure, and became a polarizing figurehead for the pro-vigilante movement, despite vanishing after the trial was interrupted."

Hikari raised her hand again. "Why would he do that?"

Lawson gave her a smirk. "I was just getting to that. It was Jameson's notion that there should be a registry of heroes, that they should receive support and training, and most importantly that the government shouldn't leave it to untrained, unpaid individuals to risk their lives and families to deal with criminals the government would not or could not tackle. Unfortunately, the vagaries of politics meant that the law came out of the legislative process more as a mask ban than a superhero registry. Jameson was responsible for a number of other…"

He glanced off at the clock. "Ah, but it's Friday, and it's five minutes until school ends. Pack your things, and when the bell rings, begone. I've had enough of you for the week."

Hikari closed her laptop and stuffed it in her bag, remembering the battered paperback the teacher had handed her that morning. Sakura slid down the row of seats and plopped down next to her; Lawson gave his students more liberty to move around than some of the other teachers.

"I heard you ate lunch with him," she whispered. "Toji told me."

"I didn't eat lunch with him," Hikari sighed. "There were three other people there."

"Who?"

"That Kaworu girl," said Hikari. "There's something weird about her. It's like she doesn't know how to be a girl. She was in the…"

"Yeah, I heard. I'm in the gym class after that."

Hikari shrugged. "Asuka and the others were really mean to her."

"I heard you stood up to her, too," said Sakura. "Toji was really excited about that. He said if you get into a fight with her I should take pictures."

Hikari stared at her flatly. She gave a mirror of her brother's mischievous grin, which on her set boy's hearts fluttering, even if she wasn't the type to notice.

"Well, maybe she's a late bloomer, or it's something to do with her mutation."

"Mutation?" said Hikari.

"Oh come on, I saw her. The nurse was walking her out of the gym. If she's not a mutant, Mari isn't either."

Hikari blinked. She hadn't even thought of that. Did that mean she had superpowers, or did…

She froze. Was _she_ a mutant?

"Hey," said Sakura. "The bell rang. Are you alright?"

Hikari nodded and got up, shouldering her bag.

"I'll stick with you. You'll need backup if the Latverians launch a sneak attack."

There was little chance of that. Asuka was already storming out of the room, to meet Mari, standing outside. Hikari let most of the students file out before she jogged down the steps. Her stomach was rumbling again, and Sakura flinched as if she'd heard it.

"Hikari?" Lawson said, catching her at the door.

Hikari touched Sakura's arm and moved over to his desk. He was leaning back in his chair at a dangerous angle, one booted foot propped up on the desktop, holding the textbook in his lap with his glasses pulled down his nose, little round spectacles that looked oddly old, not from wear but from something else she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Are you alright? You seem upset about something."

Hikari blinked. She should have been excited about this. He was paying attention to her.

"I'm fine."

He clapped the book closed and plucked his glasses from their perch on his nose. "You most certainly are not."

She felt her lower lip trembling. She had to tell somebody. She couldn't tell Kodama, she'd blow a gasket, both about the spider bite and about Shinji. She tried telling it simply.

"I was bitten by a spider at the field trip," she said, hugging her arms around herself. "I got really sick, and when I got up this morning I felt fine," which was technically accurate, "and then…"

"Tut tut, miss Horaki. I know a lie when I see one. There's more to it than that."

Hikari frowned. "I think I might be a mutant."

"You might be," said Lawson. "There are more mutant students at this school than you realize, dear. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You didn't choose to be different. Your choices are what you do with what you've been handed, no more, no less."

Hikari sniffed, and he handed her a tissue. She hadn't even realized she was crying. She brushed the moisture off her cheeks. "That's not all."

She told him about Shinji. He'd seen the confrontation in the morning. It just spilled out, all of it- Kaworu, Asuka, gym class, everything. She found herself reciting it all in detail, without even realizing why she wanted to. When she was finished, her tissue was in tatters and he handed her another one.

"That's quite a predicament," he said. "I must admit, I'm a poor source for relationship advice. Some of my… entanglements would prove more complicated than you imagine."

Hikari nodded. "I don't know what to do."

"Give it time, and think things through. You're young, young people fall too deeply into these things too quickly. Don't build him up into something he can't be for you. You barely know him, and here you are crying about him, and on a Friday afternoon, no less. Go, get him out of your mind. Read that book I gave you. You promised you would."

"What's going on here?"

Hikari whirled. Miss Katsuragi was leaning against the door frame, arms folded under her impressive bust.

"Did you make her cry?"

"I was trying to make her _stop_ crying," Lawson said, smirking. He dropped the book on the desk and stood up, grinning.

"Liar. I'll bet you started it."

Hikari suddenly felt like an extra presence in the room, and started to slink away. She was suddenly a stranger in the world of adults, and no matter what else happened, she felt a little pang when she saw the way the man in woman in the room, one of which she had a crush on, sort of, were looking at each other. Hikari hadn't seen Miss Katsuragi smile like that in class. Ever. Or stand that way, with her hips cocked to one side and her chest thrust out, her chin held high and her lips all pouty.

She looked at Hikari. "Don't ask men for relationship advice. Men get all poetic about it and then they fall for the first pretty thing that walks in front of them."

"You are far from the first that walked in front of me," said Lawson, stepping past Hikari. He stepped aside, opening a space in the door. "Would you excuse us, my dear? We have teacherly things to discuss."

Hikari didn't need a blinking neon sign, though she did move in a bit of a daze as she left the room and jumped as the door clapped shut behind her.

She was alone in the hall. The live-in students had to be in their dorms, and the last few walkers and riders were hanging by the door. She gave the Suzaharas and Kensuke a wave but didn't join them, instead jogging off towards home. She decided she'd walk, and maybe pick up a pile of food somewhere on the way. At this rate, she was going to have to get a job. She cut through an alley between two low brick shops and headed towards the residential district.

As she stepped out, an ice pick rammed into the back of her skull. On pure instinct, she jumped, just in time to see a car passing under her, a big black sedan. Everything moved with ponderous slowness, even the air currents on her skin. She threw her arms up, partly for balance, but on pure instinct, something in her wrist tensed, and she heard a most peculiar sound.

_Thwip!_

There was something in her hand. She grabbed it, held on for dear life, and swung in a tight arc right into a brick wall. She let out a yelp when she hit, but the impact didn't feel that bad, more like hitting a gym mat. She swung there for a moment, and looked up. Somehow, a surprisingly thin strand of silvery material had shot out of the underside of her hand and she was now hanging by it. She took it with her other hand, reaching up, and started to climb, until she reached the spot where it had made contact with the roof of the building, sticking there like a spider's web. Using her hands and feet, she pulled herself up and over the ledge and perched in a crouch at the corner of the roof, and stared at her arm.

"I did it before," she said, "I can do it again."

She turned her palm up and pointed her hand in a vaguely across-the-street direction, and… nothing.

"What the?" she said, shaking her arm. "Come on. Do it!"

"Web!"

"Spin!"

"Spider!"

She grunted, and sighed, moving her fingers. There was something about her middle and ring finger. When she moved them, they felt stiff, like there was something squeezing them. She curled them both towards her palm.

_Thwip!_

Her jaw dropped. A thin streamer of web shot out across the street and, hitting nothing, curled on itself before it started to drift on a stiff breeze and landed against the far roof, leaving a thin silvery line. Hikari swallowed, then lowered herself back over the side of the building and crawled back down, hand and foot, clinging to a flat surface with just her hands.

She'd officially had enough of this. She was _hungry_.

* * *

Asuka paced through her quarters, angrily muttering at the floor in three languages. She'd yet to strip out of her uniform, but Mari was already lounging in her athletic bra and underwear, and would be doing so casually all night, no matter what the matron who oversaw the girl's dormitory told her. She tended to find clothing… confining. Asuka was both annoyed and envious of her; she hated even putting on a swimsuit, or changing in front of the other girls with their jealous eyes. She'd resolved, some time ago, that when she assumed the throne, she would wear a magnificent suit of armor like her father's, but polished, of course, and with no mask to hide her beautiful face. It would, of course, be red. She'd make Shinji wear the stuffy uniforms, sitting beside her as her Prince Consort.

Mari lay on her stomach, pretending to care about her homework. "You're pacing again."

"I am not pacing," said Asuka, as she made another circuit of their room.

The girls were two to a room, each a rectangle running from the door to the window, with a bed, closet, desk, and space for a refrigerator other odds and ends on either side. The way she and Mari arranged their room, it made it so Asuka could stroll from one end to the other while in contemplation. She was not pacing.

"You're pacing," Mari sighed, kicking her feet. "What's wrong?"

"I think perhaps I was too harsh with the new one," said Asuka. "What was her name?"

"The skinny one with the silver hair? Kaworu, I think. Odd name."

"Yes," said Asuka.

The door was open. Some of the other girls were gathering in the common area. It was Friday night, and they often left with one of the matrons to see a film at the theater or break up and go shopping in the mall. Asuka disdained such things, and when Asuka disdained, Mari ignored, most of the time. Still, she paused, gazing through the door at them. Some of them met her gaze and shied away, moving so they'd have an excuse not to look at her. Asuka rubbed her arms and resumed her pacing.

"You can go if you want," said Mari. "I'll go, too. I'll even wear pants. Maybe a shirt."

"I cannot," said Asuka. "Father would not approve. I have my studies."

Mari twisted on her bed and made a sound, half like an animal yowl and half like a yawn, and then rolled over, flopping her arms behind her head. She sighed.

"Father this, Father that. Father is twelve thousand miles away. Live a little. You think he never had any fun when he was your age?"

Asuka looked at her sharply. "No."

Mari snorted, kicked her legs, and sat up. "What's really bothering you? You're upset about something. I can tell by your scent."

Asuka flushed, but shook her head in denial. "Nothing, and stop doing that."

"Liar," Mari purred, leaning on one arm.

"Fine. That girl. She bothers me."

"Who, Kaworu? You were too harsh, I admit it, but-"

"No, the other. The Horaki one, that touched my Shinji."

"Oh," said Mari, sighing. "That one. I don't see why you're so upset. You don't even_ like_ him."

"I do like him," said Asuka. "Though he is an idiot, and a lout, and a lecher, and undisciplined. Too much like his father, so cavalier."

"No," Mari rolled her eyes and made a motion with her two hands. "_Like_ him."

Asuka's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. He would not be my first choice, but royalty do not have the luxury that commons have in that regard. I'm sure he will be… adequate."

"You would know this how?"

Asuka looked at her flatly, and then turned around. She stared out the door again; the other girls were gone, now.

"We could sneak out," said Mari. "You know we could."

"I can't," said Asuka. "I have work to do. I must keep my grades up, or Father will be displeased."

"You have all weekend," said Mari, whispering in her ear. Somehow, since Asuka turned her back, she'd crossed the distance between them in silence, padding on her bare feet. She reached over Asuka's shoulder and swung the door shut with a push, and settled both arms on her shoulders. "Seventy-two hours. You can give up a few hours for something… fun."

She let out a throaty purr, settling against Asuka's back. Her heart jumped, and she tried to shrug out of Mari's grasp, but Mari twined her arms around Asuka's neck and leaned into her, breathing sharply in her ear.

"We can't," said Asuka.

"Sure we can," said Mari. _"_Your _Father_ isn't right here, right now."

"The betrothal…"

"Do I look like a boy to you? You can't be with a _boy."_

"I told you," Asuka said, more sharply than she meant to. "Last time was the _last_ time."

Mari purred in her ear. "Oh, that's not what you said at the time. 'Oh _Mari_.'"

Asuka ducked and turned out of her grasp, taking a step back against the door. Mari stood with her hip cocked to the side, fist planted on it, and Asuka could not peel her eyes from her, from her toes to her shapely legs to the ears on top of her head, now pointed straight at Asuka. Mari smiled her cat smile, little fangs glinting, and stepped forward. Asuka made no move to stop her, but pressed up against the door as Mari settled against her.

"We can't do this," she protested, "The rumors."

Mari clicked the lock on the doorknob, and spread her fingers on the blue steel. She made a little hissing sound and tensed her hands, an sharp claws flicked out from under her fingernails, each an inch long, and deadly sharp. She grinned, baring her fangs, now a little longer than before, both top and bottom.

"Let them spread rumors," Mari purred, pressing against Asuka. "You think I care? What good does it get you to be a princess if you can't do what you want?"

"I can't do what I want," said Asuka, "I must do what is necessary."

Despite that, her arms were draped around Mari's waist, and a moment later, she was too busy to protest.

* * *

Maya woke up to the sound of a fist pounding on her apartment door. Groggily she got up, pulled on a bathrobe, and marched to the door. She opened it, realized she hadn't looked through the peephole, and jumped when she realized that Ritsuko was standing outside her door. She was rather oddly dressed.

It was the pants she noticed, first. Ritsuko had never worn yoga pants before, at least never in Maya's presence, which, now that she thought about it, wasn't the proper venue for yoga pants. She was, presently, wearing a jet black pair that were very tight except for where they flared over a pair of heavy boots that gave the older woman about an extra inch or so in height. She was wearing an overly tight t-shirt with English lettering on it. Squinting, Maya thought it was for a band, something called "Black Sabbath". Over that she wore a leather jacket that came down to just under her chest, and she was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

"Maya," said Ritsuko. "This is important. It's Friday night. I need you to do something."

"What?"

"Drive," said Ritsuko. "I'm going to get stumbling drunk. I need you to make sure I don't get run over by a car. The fate of the world depends on it."

Maya blinked.

"Oh, and put on something sexy. We're going clubbing. Then we're going to Denny's. I've been living on a combination of gruel, water, and hospital food for the last nine months. I want a Moons Over My Hammy."

"Uh, okay," said Maya.

"Be warned. One of or both of us may have a new tattoo tomorrow."

* * *

Rei woke up.

It was something of a process. A brilliant light, brighter and hotter than a hundred suns, burned in her vision, and she took her first gasping breath only for her lungs to fill with liquid. She coughed and sputtered, the LCL around her bubbling as she screamed for air that would not come. She thrashed, the bonds on her wrists and ankles digging into her tender skin. Dimly, she heard a thrumming draining sound, and the liquid fell away. She thrust her chin out, gasping for breath, forced to expel a coughing gout of liquid first as she was finally released, stumbling forward into the empty air. The world was a harsh blur, and she landed hard, skidding on her side on the hard floor. She curled up in the fetal position and lay there for a moment, coughing, hoping she would be able to see. A hand clamped around her arm dragged her up.

Her feet slid under her, scrabbling for purchase, slick with LCL, and the drying liquid on her body was suddenly frigid, making her shudder and shake and try to clutch herself, but the iron grip on her upper arm would not release. She was pushed back and fell against the extraction tube and blinked the tears out of her eyes in time to see a dozen of her own faces staring back at her, smiling stupidly.

"Stop that," Dr. Summers snapped, batting her hands away from her chest. "Nothing I haven't seen before. Let's go."

Rei managed to keep her feet under her as she shivered her way under the decontamination shower. The hot water sluiced over her, so close to scalding it made her scream, or so she thought; the scream escaped her mouth anyway. She scrubbed her hands through her short hair to get the most of it out that she could before the water stopped, and it was mostly gone when it cut off, circling around her feet at the drain. Summers walked casually into the shower, seized her around the shoulders, and dragged her out of the cloning chamber and into her lab, lifting her up onto a cold metal examination table.

"Hold still, Five," she snapped, and shined a light in her eye.

Rei flinched, but held. If she tried to move away, Summers would hold her. If she held her eyes shut, Summers would pry them open. She was too strong, too fast to resist. Her eyes were red, but they were not like Rei's eyes. Dr. Summers hated her. Rei thought she hated everyone.

"Pupillary response normal. Open your mouth."

Rei did as she was bid, and coughed as the tongue depressor was rammed into her mouth, and clutched at her throat after it was withdrawn.

"I'm thirsty," Rei rasped.

"Shut up," said Summers, touching a frigid stethoscope to Rei's chest. "Breathe normally."

Satisfied, she took Rei's arm and listened to her pulse.

"Get off the table. There's water in the refrigerator."

Rei walked over to the small refrigerator, pulled the bottle of water out, and tried to open it. She had to put it between her legs; she was too weak to open it with a twist of her wrist, and would be for a while. Summers tossed a plugsuit at her feet, and when Rei finished gulping down the bottle, she pulled it on. Summers didn't quite look at her when she pulled on the suit, but didn't give her any privacy, either. Rei shuffled the loose garment up to her shoulders, made sure the pack would be set in place on her back, and pushed the button. With a rush of air that shot up her nose and made her cough, the suit compressed around her, clenching around her belly, and it made her feel a rush of nausea. She stumbled, but kept her feet, and looked up.

"Good," said Summers. "Grab your helmet. We need to run some tests."

Rei started for the door, passing the other exam tables.

"Remember," said Summers, "Not a word to anyone about you see down here," she seized Rei's shoulder, squeezing hard, "Not a word about about anything. You live in an apartment and you're very comfortable, and I tutor you."

She turned Rei, to make sure they saw eye-to-eye.

"Remember one thing. If you so much as look the Commander in the eye, you little bitch, I'll skin you alive and bring out Rei Six. You can be replaced."

Rei nodded, and silently, walked towards the elevator.

* * *

Slowly, groggily, Hikari woke up. She had a pile of homework to do, but that could wait. One of the perks of attending the Academy was an actual two days off, Saturday and Sunday, and she was alone in the house, as Nozomi was at school and Kodama was out with her friends. Hikari, for her part, was lying in bed, one leg hanging off the edge, still in her school blouse with a dog-eared copy of _The Trial of Peter Parker_ spread across her chest.

"I am such a nerd," she said, to no one in particular.

She sat up and scanned a few more lines from the book. Despite the title, it wasn't just the story of the trial. Jameson pieced together Parker's entire life from interviews and documents, and put together a narrative of almost everything that happened to him from when he was bitten by the spider -Hikari shuddered- to August, 1973. She stared at the cover of the book, a faded, flat looking drawing of Spider-Man swinging through the air with a criminal tucked under his arm. She marked her page, put the book down, and yawned. She was _hungry. _Food, she needed food.

While a microwave breakfast meal turned in the oven, Hikari scratched her chin. She needed to think this through. It didn't make any sense. _Was_ she a mutant? Did she get powers because a spider bit her? Why did she put on so much muscle so quickly? Were those spiders some sort of attempt to re-create…

She looked down at the empty tray of food in her hand, a few crumbs of sausage and dry pancake clinging to the plastic. Her hands were sticky. She didn't remember eating it. She dumped it down the incinerator chute, wiped her hands, and started fishing for more food. Kodama was going to flip out if she ate everything, but she was so _hungry_. She ended up making herself a piled up sandwich of four layers of toast, various meats, various cheeses, and some lettuce and spinach, and she probably would have poured milk on it if she wasn't paying attention. She sat down and started chewing, focusing on actually tasting the food. The kitchen clock said it was ten in the morning.

A thought occurred to her. She could go out and do things. Help people. Nothing major. She groaned at the thought. The police would be after her, and the military, even, not to mention Nerv; there were lots of rumors about goons in dark suits, and her father, as little as she saw him, worked there. Turning into some kind of vigilante was out of the question. She should have been more careful already. If someone saw her at school… she shuddered.

She took another bite, and realized there was a spider sitting on the table. She froze. It lifted up its front legs and waggled them at her. The size of a pencil eraser, it wasn't very intimidating, but it was just staring at her with two big eyes. Some part of her accessed a dusty, ill-used file in her brain and recognized it as a jumping spider. It must have landed on the table while she wasn't looking.

_Big sister._

She blinked.

_Big sister two legs._

She didn't hear a voice, not exactly. It was more like an image, a towering huge spider with two legs, standing above others, at the center of a great web in darkness.

_Big sister two legs danger come_

Images flooded her mind- scorpions, bigger spiders, a shoe, a rolled up newspaper, but her mind translated it to _danger_. She rocked back in her seat, the chair creaking under her, and blinked. It wasn't just a warning, it was a strong one. When she looked again, the tiny creature had gone, and she was holding the very last part of her sandwich in her hands. She stuffed it in her mouth and headed for the bathroom, jaws still besandwitched, chewing it and swallowing it bit by bit as she ran the hot water and slipped out of her shirt. She showered, looked through her wardrobe, and ended up stealing some of Kodama's clothes, a pair of pants that shouldn't have been tight on her but were, and put on a clean uniform shirt on over that, untucked.

Once dressed, she stuffed some cash in her pocket, grabbed her ID card, and headed out. She took the stairs slower this time, more measured, wondering if anyone might see her. Once out on the street, she stuck her hands in her pockets and looked around. She had no idea where she was actually going, only that she needed some air. She took off towards downtown. There was the mall; that sounded like a good idea. She headed for the train station, she'd need to catch the train.

Or would she?

Instead, she ducked between the apartment blocks, and looked around. There was no harm in it. She put her hand on the wall, felt it catch, then put her other up. Her feet seemed to slip in her heavy sneakers, so she slipped them off, knotted the shoelaces, and draped them around her neck. She sagged a bit on her feet, then jumped, sailing into the air, and slapped against the wall, held by her hands and feet. Shying away from the windows, she crawled up the side and pulled herself up and over the edge. The roof was hot asphalt and rough, so she slipped her shoes back on, and walked along the edge. She moved with an alien grace, like someone was holding her by an invisible hook on the top of her head, her body moving fluidly under it. She walked the ledge easily, and when she looked over at the street eight stories down, she didn't feel a twinge of fear or unease; she could have been standing on the sidewalk. She dropped down onto the roof anyway, bolted, and went for a running start.

When she hit the edge of the roof, or near it, she kicked off, and flew higher and further than she expected, sailing over the next roof. She came down easy anyway, dropping into a crouch with one hand on the asphalt, one behind her for balance, and looked back. She must have jumped fifty or sixty feet, maybe further. The next building was a bit further out, far enough that it made her uneasy to jump it. She could crawl back down and hope no one saw her.

Yet, between her and the next roof, there was a crane.

She licked her lips and aimed her wrist at the crane, and tensed the muscles in her fingers. She felt the eerie sensation of the web spilling out, flying into space, but it missed by a mile, or at least a few feet, and slithered through the air like a ribbon. Hikari frowned, and tried it again. This time the web caught, bounced, and tightened her in her hand; she had to grasp it to keep the end from slipping from her fingers. She took it in her other hand and walked to the edge of the roof, glancing at the ground far below and the streamer of web hanging from the crane. She put her foot out, closed her eyes, realized that was a terrible idea, opened them again, and stepped off the roof.

She screamed. The ground was very, very far below, and she was swinging with great speed towards a concrete wall, rapidly rushing to meet her face. She couldn't let go, she couldn't let herself run into it. Time slowed, the same way it had before, and she became aware of her surroundings, like she could feel the air currents moving over the objects around her. There was the corner of the building. If she…

She threw her other arm out, and a web spun from her wrist, arced up, and touched the corner of the building. She let go, and as he momentum carried her forward, her weight fell on the new web and she started to swing to the side. As she passed the side the building, she kicked her feet, and swung around the corner. There was no time to think, only react. She was on the edge of the business district, and there was another building. She tossed out a web, but this one was even longer, to reach, and as she swung into the dip she picked up terrifying speed, her stomach leaping to her throat, her eyes wide. She swept through the bottom of the swing, slowed as she rose to the apex of the curve, and tossed out another line. By the time she'd taken the third or fourth swing, it was like second nature. She saw the mall in the distance, a squat four story building that was much wider than it was tall, with an attached garage. Dropping somewhere a security camera would see her was a probably a bad idea, so she let herself swing between two buildings, swinging her feet to the side, and ran along the building until she slowed, and was able to gently swing over and touch her hands to the wall and let go of the web.

Using her hands, she made her way down until she was about forty feet off the ground, somehow knew it was safe, and dropped, landing easily. She strolled out of the alley and walked into the flow of people, none the wiser. She had the day off, but most adults didn't, and it was lunch time by now. She headed for the mall, flexing her arms; she wasn't even sore.

At the mall, she showed her ID to the guard, who waved her through. Not all of the schools were off on Saturday, but she was used to showing ID; there was someone checking it everywhere she went. She tucked it back in her pocket and walked into the crisp air conditioned air of one of the biggest malls in the world, striding out into the open atrium. There was an amusement park at one end, and a massive arcade on the fourth floor, which was her destination. She took the clear elevator up, lamenting that she couldn't just jump. It would be faster.

_I am getting used to this too fast,_ she thought.

As she walked into the arcade, she heard a familiar hooting and shouting. Toji, Kensuke and Sakura were at the dancing game machine; Sakura was bouncing on her pad wildly, and shaming her brother in competition. She even did little turns and spins. Hikari headed towards them.

Shinji walked past her.

He was alone, with a sort of vacant look on his face, carrying a bag of what appeared to be… cooking utensils. She followed him for a few steps, then said "Hey, Shinji!"

He looked over his shoulder at her, startled. "Oh, Hikari. Hi."

"Hi yourself," said Hikari, jogging up to him.

He shuffled with his bag. While he was distracted, she brushed the top button of her shirt. It just happened to pop open. Honest. She was hot, anyway. She'd been exercise.

"What are you doing here?" said Hikari.

"Shopping," he shrugged.

"At the kitchen store?"

He looked down. "I like to cook. It's… soothing."

"Do you live on campus?" said Hikari.

"No, I live with my father."

Hikari nodded. "Are your parents divorced?"

He looked at her for a pained instant, and her stomach lurched.

"No, she… I was young. I don't really remember."

She grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry. That was a dumb thing to say, I-"

He started to pull away, but stopped, then slipped his hand out of her fingers. Hikari shifted on her feet.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so, um forward, I-"

Shinji cocked his head to the side. "Are you hungry?"

Hikari blinked. "Yes. Yes, I'm hungry."

"Let's get something to eat."

Hikari stumbled after him, and then rushed to walk by his side, looking around nervously. She began to wish she hadn't unbuttoned that damned button, and picked at the tail of her shirt, hoping it didn't make her butt look too big. She stood up straight, trying to remember how she'd walked when she was on the ledge, and then realized she was maybe an inch taller than Shinji. He didn't seem to care, walking with the same casual air as usual. He was wearing part of the school uniform, too; the pants, she guess, and a blue t-shirt.

"Where are you going?" said Shinji.

"The food court is this way," said Hikari.

"I'm not eating that," Shinji said haughtily, only for his cheeks to color a moment later. "Come on, there's some restaurants on the top floor."

Hikari followed him up; they took the stairs. On the top floor of the mall, which was the smallest and overlooked the rides, there were a number of restaurants. Shinji looked around.

"Traditional? Italian? American? French?"

Hikari looked around again, and felt her stomach rumbling. "Italian," she decided.

Shinji nodded and led the way. He walked right up to the hostess' stand at the front of the restaurant, and the woman gave him a look until he produced a card, probably his ID, and slipped it to her. She did a double take and handed it back, and returned with a pair of menus. There was a board posted outside. She glanced at the prices, and tugged on his sleeve.

"Shinji, I can't afford this."

He glanced at her and smirked. "I can."

She blinked, and the hostess came back with a pair of menus in hand. The place was dark, lit by candles flickering in heavy glasses on the tables, all covered with linen. The hostess led them deep into the place and to a booth that was a step up from the floor, and cavernous. Hikari felt dwarfed by it as she sat down. It was a pit style, without any corners. Shinji slid over and sat next to her, reading her menu instead of his.

She could feel his breath on her neck. She was really close to him.

"Can I get you something to start?"

"Calamari fritti," said Shinji, "an appetizer sampler and an order of mozzarella sticks."

Hikari blinked, but nodded.

"We'll try the house wine," said Shinji.

"Sir," the waitress said, a slight emphasis on the word, "You're underage."

Shinji folded his hands on the table. "Perhaps you'd like to explain that to my father."

The waitress stared at him.

"Commander Ikari."

The hostess shot the waitress a nod, both their eyes widened, and the woman rushed off.

Hikari stared at him. "Wait, Ikari as in _that_ Ikari?"

Shinji sighed. "Yes."

"Oh my God," Hikari said, "I didn't know, no wonder… I should have figured it out earlier, I-"

"Please," he said, "Please don't start treating me different because of who my father is."

Hikari nodded. "I won't. I was just surprised."

The food came with surprising speed, along with a pair of glasses. The waitress poured out some wine in each, not really filling them, and Shinji waved the bottle away. Hikari was about to lift hers when he touched her hand.

"Let it breathe."

She stared at the appetizer hungrily, wincing when she realized she'd actually licked her lips. She was all but drooling.

"Go ahead. I ordered for you. I know you'll eat most of it."

She looked at him. He threw his hands up.

"I'm not saying you're fat. You're not fat!"

She grinned, and loaded her plate up with a stack of cheese and peppers and garlic bread and age hungrily. There were some ring things, they looked like little onion rings. She took a bunch of those on her fork and ate them. They were good, so she had some more.

"What is this?"

"Calamari," said Shinji.

"I know, but what's that."

"Squid."

"Oh," she said, burping. She blushed again. Damn it.

Eh. She kept eating.

The waitress gave her a look when she walked back up.

"What would you and the lady like for lunch, sir?"

"I'll have the veal marsala. The lady will have the three meat lasagna and spaghetti."

"A side of spaghetti. Very good."

"No, a full order, and we'll have your most expensive white wine."

The waitress looked at her again, then walked off.

"Shinji, you're scaring me a little," said Hikari. "How do you know I can eat all that?"

"It happens like that, sometimes, when your powers come in. Your body needs extra fuel, especially if it increases your metabolism."

Hikari froze.

"Uh, what powers?"

Shinji sighed, shrugged, and picked a butter knife up from the table. He put the tip to his palm, planted his other palm on the back of the handle, and pressed down. Hikari winced, expecting it lance through his hand, but there was a small _ptang_ sound and with a creak, the stainless steel folded in his hand, until he was holding them together. He held his hands as if they were at prayer, and when he opened them, a ball of metal rested on his hand.

"Wow," she said. "Cool."

"I'm not done," he said, and smirked.

He touched the ball lightly with his finger, and it _moved, _shifting like liquid in his hand. It flattened out, and drew when he touched it with his fingertip, moving along with him. Slowly, he shaped it, spinning his finger around it to make edges, finer and finer, until he'd folded it into a flower. He picked it up with his fingers and touched the base, drawing out a flat stem an inch long, and reached over and carefully stuck a tiny steel rose in the pocket of her shirt. Hikari gaped at him.

"I can do more than that," he sighed. "I can't do it here. It messes up computers and credit cards."

"Wow," Hikari whispered. "That's amazing."

He smiled, and his cheeks reddened, just a bit.

Hikari took a drink of wine. She'd always imagined it to be kind of sweet. Adults drank it like it was. Instead, it was acid, tasting of grapes but without much of a sugar quality at all, almost like a sting, but it tasted okay. She tipped back some more, noting how it stripped all the tastes out of her mouth, and began feeding again. Shinji seemed almost amused by it. He sipped his wine and picked at the calamari. By the time the appetizer plates were cleared away, Hikari was feeling only slightly peckish, and then the main course arrived, and she dug in.

"You said you knew Asuka since you were twelve," said Hikari. "I hate to bring this up, but how did you meet?"

"I was sent to Latveria, to train with… her father," Shinji said, glancing around nervously.

"If you'd rather not…"

"No, no, it's alright. I went there to train with my powers."

Hikari looked around. "When did you first realize you could, um, do that?"

"I don't remember," he shrugged. "I guess always. You shouldn't let anyone know what you can do."

"Why?" said Hikari. "I mean I know why, but-"

"If you're special, people will want to use you," said Shinji. "They'll want what you have for themselves."

Hikari touched his arm. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I wish you didn't have to marry her," Hikari said, glumly. "That's so _dumb._"

"So do I."

He looked down at his food. He'd eaten about half of it. He pushed it away. "I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't do this." He looked at her. "It's not fair to you. I can't… I can be your friend, that's all."

He pulled a sheaf of bills out of his pocket and tossed them on the table. "This should cover everything. I should go. I took enough of a risk bringing you here. If they see me leaving with you…"

"Who?" said Hikari. "If who sees you?"

"My life isn't mine," said Shinji. "I belong to somebody else. I'm sorry, Hikari. I'm truly sorry. I… you're very pretty, and you seem really nice, and… you liked to sit with me. I liked that a lot, but this can't go anywhere. I hope I can be your friend. At school."

He slid out of the booth and Hikari grabbed at him, but didn't really mean to catch him, and so she didn't. He scrubbed at his eyes as he ran out of the restaurant, but stopped, slowed, and composed himself before stepping out. He'd left his bag of kitchen stuff in the booth. Hikari pulled it to her side, and looked at the food. She put the fork down. She wasn't hungry anymore.

She let out a long sigh, and started to shift towards the edge of the booth. The waitress came over and picked up the stack of money.

"He's cute. I don't know what you did, but you should go after him."

Hikari glared at her.

Then, she doubled over, forgetting everything, forgetting Shinji, even, though her hand shot to her chest and she clutched the little metal rose, hoping she didn't cut herself or crush the delicate, razor petals. It was like her neck was on fire, and she knew, _knew _that something huge was coming her way, something incredibly dangerous.

A low whining sound started, drawing from everywhere at once, building to an ear-splitting crescendo, almost drowning out the commotion as the cooks and wait staff ran from the restaurant. Hikari got her footing and ran with them. It wasn't possible. This was never supposed to actually happen.

It was the evacuation alarm.

* * *

Maya woke up on her new pillow. It was a very soft pillow, and it was very nicely shaped, as it cradled her head in a sort of cleft in the middle. She licked her lips and pushed her face into her pillow. Her head was pounding like a drum, and her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. She hugged the pillow, which turned out to be much larger than she realized, and shifted her weight, hoping to fall back asleep. Instead, it gradually dawned on her that her pillow was alive, because it was breathing, had a heartbeat, was snoring, and smelled like tequila. She lifted her head up.

"Holy shit!" Maya squeaked, lifting her head from Ritsuko's chest.

"Quiet," Ritsuko snapped, "I drank all the booze, shut up."

Maya rolled off of her. Ritsuko was still wearing her Black Sabbath shirt and a pair of underwear that was both black and most definitely a thong. Maya, at least, was still fully dressed.

"What the hell?" Maya said. Her head was pounding now, every movement making it feel like her brain had detached and was moving inside her skull. "How much did I drink?"

"Four beers," Ritusko groaned, "Pussy."

Maya clutched her head. "It hurts."

"Listen," said Ritsuko, "We have bigger problems," she groaned, "than that. I can't move my legs."

Maya blinked.

"Relax, it's normal. It's also probably why I'm not wearing any pants. Unless you tried to molest me in my sleep, you little devil. It's always the quiet ones."

Maya shook her head. "What do I do?"

"Well, my pants are off, so we can skip that step. Help me roll over."

Ritsuko twisted, and Maya blushed a little. She had very defined muscles on her stomach, more so than Maya would have expected, even those little on the side. Maya swallowed hard against her dry mouth and helped the turn by putting her hand gingerly on Ritsuko's hip.

"Just do it," Ritsuko sighed.

Resting her hand on Ritsuko's backside, Maya pushed, and when she was able to get her other hand under her, Ritsuko turned onto her stomach.

"In my purse, there's a wire with a plug on the end."

Maya found it, spooled it out. The jack at the end looked very ordinary. She plugged it into the wall.

"It goes in at the space of my spine, right at the tailbone."

Maya hovered over her, holding the other end of the wire in her hand. "I, um, your underwear-"

"Look, I had a man do this for a month, an old man who was going bald, smelled like cabbage, and turned out to be a super soldier who tried to kill me with a table. Just do it."

Maya sighed, and pulled the top of Ritsuko's underwear down. That one spot seemed to be the only place it actually covered.

"Um," said Maya. "Do you, um, exercise?"

"I used to do yoga. I guess I'll have to watch my diet now. Why?"

"No reason," said Maya, sliding the jack in. It clicked, there was a beep, and Ritsuko's spine lit up, glowing under the thin cotton of her shirt.

"Um," said Maya, "Were you wearing a bra when you came here last night?"

"No," said Ritsuko, "Thanks for asking."

Maya felt her cheeks heating. "Is there anything I can do to make this headache go away?"

"Drink more?"

Maya shook her head. "Ugh. No."

"We never got to Denny's," Ritsuko sighed.

"How do you know?" said Maya. "I don't remember anything."

Ritsuko sighed. "I'm not vomiting. I have to pee, though, so my back is starting to work again. Give it a few minutes. The charge takes maybe half an hour or so."

Maya nodded and got up. She had to eat something, if only to settle her stomach, something nutritious. She hobbled into the kitchen and reached into the cupboard, looking for something easy to make, and settled on some noodle cups. Water didn't help her dry mouth, and she didn't want to know why there was a bottle of scotch in her refrigerator now.

Ritsuko trundled out, still wearing nothing from the waist down but her skimpy underthings, and plugged her butt into the wall next to Maya's little kitchen table. She plopped down in the seat and winced.

"Cold!"

Ritsuko stirred her noodles and sighed. "I should get back to work."

"You should put on some pants first," said Maya.

"My God, she made a joke."

Maya smiled a little, and poured the rest of her soup down her gullet, and let out a tiny little burp, then blushed, covering her mouth.

"You are just too precious," said Ritsuko.

Eventually, Ritsuko's back beeped, and she coiled up the wire and stuffed it back in her purse. She tugged her pants back on, muttering at the effort it took to pull them up over her backside, and Maya mostly looked away, except for the few times she didn't. Ritsuko could be very… bouncy. She emerged from the bedroom and flopped on Maya's couch.

"Let's watch TV," said Ritsuko.

"I thought we were going to work?" said Maya.

"It's Saturday," said Ritsuko. "We should…"

Their phones went off at once, and outside, the evacuation alarm begin to spin up. Maya trembled.

"Let's go," Ritsuko said, suddenly serious and on her feet, stepping into her shoes. "We have to get down to HQ, and we have to do it now."

* * *

Gendo walked out onto the bridge, and immediately buttoned his uniform jacket as he walked to the parapet above the technicians. Fuyutsuki took a place behind him. Summers was in the cage with the pilot, and Akagi should be there soon, and if she wasn't, Summers could handle prepping Unit Zero. He nodded at his subordinate. Two of the three senior techs were in place, and the third, the Ibuki girl, was running for her position. Ordinary he would have chastised her, or rather had Fuyutsuki chastise her, for being so out of uniform, but she was likely off duty when the alarm sounded.

"Status report," said Gendo.

Lt. Hyuga spoke without looking at him. "Blue pattern detected, inbound from the southeast. It's going to pass dangerously close to the Odo Island anomaly."

Gendo nodded, and folded his arms behind his back. "Inform the monitoring station, and order them to high alert. Contact the United Nations and the JSSDF, and initiate a radiological scan. I want to know if it begins moving. Inform them I am assuming operational command."

Aoba sat up. "Commander, sir, we have visual confirmation from units in the field. A creature is emerging from the bay. It's an Angel."

"Order the JSSF units to fall back, they're wasting their time. Decouple the secondary and tertiary arc reactors from the city grid, and spin up the auxiliaries. I want the city in combat configuration in twenty minutes."

Gendo walked to his desk and picked up the phone at the corner, switching to the intercom. His voice rang hollow in the command center, and in the entire base.

"This is the Commander speaking. Action stations. Rig for Eva launch. This is not a drill."

He put the phone down. "My son and the von Doom girl. Where are they?"

Fuyutsuki nodded. "En route. There was some trouble with Kyoko's girl, but Shinji came quietly."

"The civilian evacuation?"

Fuyutsuki looked at his tablet. "Eighty percent. Some of them aren't going to make it."

"They should have taken the drills more seriously," said Gendo. "You have the deck. I'm going to the cages."

It was time. At long last, it was time.


	5. Neat and Clean

_Previously on..._

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_Ritsuko took Maya out for an evening on the town she'd never forget, or, as it turns out, remember. On their day off, many of the students ended up at the mall, including Hikari and Shinji, who shared a romantic lunch in an expensive restaurant, only to be interrupted when the evacuation alarm sounded. Meanwhile, Dr. Summers woke Rei and began preparing her to pilot Unit Zero in the coming battle._

* * *

**_"_NEAT AND CLEAN"**

* * *

Shinji stood at attention at the line, a yellow marker than ran across the floor at the base of the Eva cage. All three of the Evas were in their tanks, looming far overhead and tinged orange by the LCL bath, lit from within the tanks by a dozen spotlights that gave them each a monstrous, hulking air. He had his helmet under his arm, and was acutely aware of the plugsuit hugging every inch of his spare frame. The only loose part of it was the floppy collar that would connect to his helmet. Rei stood next to him, staring at the floor, and Asuka stood on the other side.

It was hard not to look, to keep his focus straight ahead. They both looked _good_ in their suits, especially Rei. Hers was a different design from Asuka's, with a bulkier pack on the back, but it hugged her hips and backside all the same, and it seemed made to emphasize the swell of her bust, which he was totally not looking at in any way. Asuka stood locked in a perfect stance, her helmet under her left arm, chest proud, back arched, which had the secondary effect of thrusting her own admirable rump out, and testing the plugsuit across her flat belly, but she seemed unconscious of it. If he turned his eyes to the side, he could see the outline of her locket pressed against her, trapped under the suit, and that was in no way an excuse to look at her chest at all.

He saw Father and his head snapped to him. The Commander walked the line, his uniform now perfectly arranged, and stood in front of them, the Evas looming behind him.

"At ease."

They all relaxed, except Rei, who didn't seem to know how. She already had her helmet on, and Shinji saw it tilt towards the floor as she averted her gaze from the Commander.

"Sir, I volunteer for this action," said Shinji.

Asuka glanced at him, her head turning fractionally.

"I also volunteer."

Rei said nothing.

"You two will remain on standby. Rei and Unit Zero are primary. To your Eva, Ayanami."

Rei nodded, her oversized helmet bobbing, and then ran off without looking at him. Shinji still thought her helmet made her look like a cat.

"Sir," Shinji said. "Why-"

"Don't question my orders," Gendo snapped. He looked from Shinji to Asuka and back. "You're both on standby for this operation. Period."

With that, he turned and walked off.

Shinji realized he was clenching his fist. He wondered if Father noticed, or if he cared. Asuka was shaking with rage, grinding her teeth. She stormed off before he could say anything, tossing her helmet to a startled technician. Shinji handed his over, thoughtfully, and began mentally reciting his mantras. He couldn't afford an outburst here; the magnetic pulse would damage the computers. Rei was a white speck, standing with the technicians and Doctor Summers as she rode the moving scaffold up the front of Unit Zero's holding tank.

"Hello, Shinji."

He turned. It was Dr. Akagi, the chief engineer on the Eva project, but it took him a moment to recognize her. She was not dressed in her customary lab coat and dress or skirt, and was instead wearing _very_ tight pants and some kind of band t-shirt, which was also very tight, and resisted her attempts to pull it down over her belly, under her lab coat. He stared at her openly for a second. She was a very pretty woman but he suddenly realized that he'd lost his train of thought for a moment.

She patted him on the head as she passed. "Is that woman screwing with my giant robots?"

"I," said Shinji, "What?"

"Never mind. Pilots don't need to worry about office politics. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting in the Eva?"

"I'm on standby," he sighed.

"Oh, good."

"What?"

"You don't want to pilot, do you? I always thought you hated it."

"I do," he sighed, "but… I don't know."

Ritsuko shrugged. "Hopefully, we won't need you. Rei is well trained. This should all be neat and clean."

"Neat and clean," Shinji sighed.

* * *

Everybody was running everywhere, and everyone was screaming, and for a brief, flashing moment, Hikari thought she'd been sucked into a cheesy giant monster movie. Police were everywhere, trying to direct the evacuation but their cries for order were going ignored as the rush of people in the mall thundered down the ramps and stairs towards the lower levels and the parking garage. The elevators had shut down, triggered by the alarms. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she yanked it out.

"Hello?"

"Hikari?" Kodama said, her voice twisted with terror. "Where are you?"

"The mall, I-"

"Shelter 3-B. We're in 3-B. Dad is here. Hikari, get here as fast you can."

"I can't, I have to go to one of the other shelters, I'm too far-"

"_Hikari,"_ Kodama moaned, her voice cracking.

"Okay, I'm-"

"Sakura!"

She froze, whipping her head around, phone still pressed to her ear. Toji ran, grabbed a kiosk, and jumped up, scanning the crowd. "Sakura! Kensuke!"

Kensuke was running behind him, looking around frantically.

"Go," Toji shouted, "I'll find her! Sakura!"

"Hikari?" said Kodama. "What's wrong?"

Hikari started moving towards him, against the flow of the crowd. "It's my friend Toji, from school. He can't find his sister."

"Don't worry about them," said Kodama, "Get to the shelter."

"But-"

"Hikari, it's not your problem!"

"But-"

"Hikari," Kodama growled, "If you don't get down here right now, you will be grounded for life, and you will never own a car, and please," she sobbed, her voice breaking, "Please, Nozomi won't stop crying and Dad is just staring into space, _I need you."_

She bit her lip. Toji didn't see her.

"I'm coming."

* * *

Rei settled her helmet on her head, and Dr. Summers lifted the collar of her plugsuit, making the seal. She tapped Rei on the head and she stepped forward, standing at attention. She could feel the LCL draining from the chamber, the sudden rush of air moving in to replace it, bitingly cold. Unit Zero stood bolted to the wall by the massive restraining locks that clamped into her white and blue pylons, and was hunched forward, the neck exposed and three of the plates lifted up where the entry plug slid out. A retractable bridge was moving out, a light on the edge blinking red, and would dock with the plug in a moment.

Summers stood in front of her.

"This is a real combat situation, not a simulation. Try not to die too quickly, you'll embarrass me."

"I will not embarrass you. I will defeat the Angel."

"Good, glad to hear it," said Summers, "Now scamper up there and hop in."

"Wait a minute," a voice said, and Rei turned.

Dr. Akagi stormed out onto the loading gantry, holding the railing firmly and avoiding looking over the edge. She was dressed oddly, but Rei supposed she had been away from the base. Rei had been allowed to leave headquarters, once. She saw a tree. She liked trees.

"What?" said Summers.

"I'm the head of the Evangelion Division, not you."

"Ikari has appointed me acting flight surgeon," said Summers, "Last time I checked, the order hadn't been rescinded."

"You don't seem to be getting the message," Akagi said, angrily. "I'm taking over here. You may remove your pale ass to the bridge, or to hell for all I care. Now get out."

Summers fixed her glare on Rei. "Remember what I told you."

Then, she left, at her own pace, sauntering past Akagi at a leisurely stroll, staring at the other woman with a mix of amusement and distaste the entire time, until she cleared the gantry and stepped into the open air freight elevator and glared as it sank away. Akagi glared back, then met Rei's gaze.

"Are you up for this?"

Rei nodded.

"Okay, if you say so. You're suited up already, so let's get you in the plug. Come on."

Rei blinked. Dr. Akagi took her hand. No one had ever done that before. They walked up the stairs to the retractable bridge, and Akagi walked her to the plug, a cylindrical mass of metal jutting from the Eva's back. No one had done that before, either. Akagi leaned on her thighs, bringing her face to Rei's level.

"You are the cutest thing, you know that?"

Rei blinked.

"I will defeat the Angel," Rei repeated, unsure of what to say.

Akagi put a hand on her shoulder. "This is going to be hard. You might get hurt. We're here for you. Everybody wants to see you win. You can do it."

Rei nodded, blinking, and stepped into the plug. By rote memory, she grasped the top edge of the hatch and slid her feet against small steps built into the curving side. The inside was a tight fit, and she had to twist to get her legs under the control yoke, and settle into the seat. In her lap was a set of controls for the Eva, with a screen in front of her for the visual feed. Beneath that was a variety of smaller screens, for the various readouts she would need and comms with the base while she was in the field.

Akagi followed her in, sitting on the edge of the hatch opening, and helped her strap in. Straps ran across both of her thighs, and a five point harness locked over her chest. She leaned forward, and Akagi screwed the coax cables into the back of her helmet. Usually, a technician did that. Rei settled back against the seat and Akagi pulled down the restraint that would keep her neck from thrashing, similar to the ones race car drivers used, and locked it in place.

"Thank you," Rei murmured, the words unfamiliar to her.

"Okay," said Ritsuko. "We're going to start the LCL infusion. I'll seal you in. Sit tight, and we'll start syncing you up."

Rei nodded, as much as she could, and looked forward as Akagi slid out of the plug and onto her feet and swung the hatch closed. Rei watched from the corner of her eye as the lock rotated and the lugs slid into place, sealing her in. There was a heavy thrumming sound as LCL began to pour in around her. The electronics were all proof against it. Again, Rei slid into the drilled motions of operational prep, testing the switches on her yoke, pressing the pedals, turning the handles to make sure they were free.

Akagi spoke in her ear. "Rei? You ready? We need to get moving."

"I am ready," said Rei.

"Okay, you're going to feel a jolt. We're going to decouple you from the main power grid and switch over to the Eva's onboard arc reactor. You should have about twenty minutes of off-grid time."

Rei felt a jolt, and heard the restraining bolts groan.

"We're starting the synchronization. Hold tight."

Rei nodded slightly, and felt the sudden twinge, like something crawling over her head, as the process started. It was like something was crawling over her, from her scalp down, between the tight layer of her plugsuit and her skin, impossible as it seemed. She rested her arms on the sides of the pilot's seat and gripped the yokes as she felt them fuzz, the distinction between her body and the Eva's weakening. She became aware of it all at once, a sudden sharp intrusion into her brain.

Rei gasped and bucked in the seat. A flash, a woman screaming.

_No! No! Get me out! I didn't do it! I didn't-_

"Rei, your synch became unstable for a moment, there. What's wrong?"

"I am fine," said Rei. "Clear for deployment."

She heard a sigh. "Yes. Final system checks clean, all boards are green. You're operating at thirty-five percent synch, Rei."

Akagi's voice became distant as she leaned back from the microphone. Rei could see her now, on one of the screens, turning to face her tech crew.

"We're sending her up. Hold on to your butts."

* * *

Gendo took his position calmly, folding his arms behind his back, and watched the chaos unfolding under him. Akagi joined them a moment later, blustering onto the bridge in a buttoned lab coat that covered her ridiculous costume. She took a position behind Ibuki without looking at him, and rested her hand on her subordinates' shoulder. Summers ascended to his level and stood next to him, standing with her arms folded behind her back and her chest thrust out. These women and their antics amused him.

_Gendo_

He stepped forward, maintaining a professional distance between Summers and himself.

"Give me a feed of the Eva."

Unit Zero stood, locked to the rails at the top of the deployment shaft. Most of the city was sinking into the ground, the buildings gradually working their way down through the layers of bedrock and armor plating that would protect them while using their structure to shore up the internal structure of the Geofront. It was an apt metaphor for something, and

_Gendo_

He scratched his chin. Blue and white, the one-eyed Eva was now the tallest thing in the immediate area.

"Visual on the Angel?"

"Coming up now, sir," said Hyuga, over the sound of his typing.

The screen split. On one side, he saw Unit Zero, on the other, the Angel. He heard an audible gasp run through the room. The creature was enormous; a hunched thing with overly long arms that ended in long, scything claws, its armored shoulders set above its head, if the curiously bird-like mask of bone set in its chest was a head. The core, the all-important core, was visible in its midsection, bright red and protected only by a feeble set of almost ribs.

"Firing solution," said Gendo. "Keep the Eva in reserve until we've exhausted conventional attack."

The MAGI began their plotting, and the forward batteries lifted, unfolded, and opened fire, missiles streaking through the air on bursts of flame and trails of smoke. They spiraled, moving around the angel in a slow circle, and darted in for the kill. The creature simple continued forward, the explosions bursting around it like so much rain, barely a distraction. It was moving into the perimeter now, and the fire was growing hotter.

"No effect," said Hyuga.

"Seal the base and charge the main repulsor arrays. Discontinue conventional fire, and patch me through to the pilot."

Rei's face appeared in the corner of the main display. Even here, she did not meet his gaze.

"Sir. Ready for orders."

"Engage the target," said Gendo. "Defensive pattern. Use the reciprocating rifle."

Rei nodded and her face winked out, and the Eva's restraining bolts released with puffs of smoke as tiny explosive charges blew them loose, and the thing moved almost eagerly, wriggling free of the rails, and sprinted towards the main armaments station, weaving between the sunken stubs of buildings. The Eva lifted the rifle and brought it around, locking it to the right arm and in the power supply.

"She has eighteen minutes of power left," said Akagi.

"Noted," said Gendo. "Rei, extend your field."

"Yes, sir."

There was a shimmer in the air, and the Angel paused, bird-head searching, swiveling this way and that, giving it a confused, almost childlike air. It raised its hand and prodded at the air with its slashing claws, feeling at something. It took a step forward and was surrounded by orange flickers and strange lights, ghosting off into the darkening sky.

"The Angels' at-field is eroding," said Akagi.

Rei opened fire. She leveled the gun and pulled the trigger, and the mechanism engaged. The shells it fired were too large and powerful to rely on a blowback system or other conventional means of operation; the action siphoned power from the Eva itself and cycled and reloaded the ammunition with massive electric motors. She fired a quick three round burst, _thump thump thump,_ and after their noticeable travel time, the shells burst against the creature's flesh, and as the smoke cleared, pockmarks were visible in it, the smooth black carapace disrupted to show pale flesh beneath, oozing blue blood.

"Good," said Gendo. "Keep firing. Aim for the core."

Rei did as she was bid, and fired another burst. It missed. The creature ducked out of the way, plunging its claws into the ground for purchase, and zigzagged forward. The technicians jumped to their feet. Gendo frowned. Rei fired another burst that went wild, the shells coming down somewhere outside the city. She stumbled back as the Angel slashed with its long talons, and neatly cut the central section of the gun into three clean pieces. It shoulder-checked the Eva and knocked Rei back, sending her crashing into some smaller, fixed buildings near the financial district.

"Her power use is outside acceptable parameters," said Akagi. "We need to scrub, now, and deploy the others."

"No," said Gendo.

"You could give her some support-"

"No," Gendo said, firmly, and looked at her for emphasis. "She trained for this, she will handle it. Rei, disengage and proceed to the arming station. Go to hand-to-hand, and choose an offensive pattern."

"Yes," Rei grunted, "Sir."

Unit Zero slipped out of the Angel's range and darted for the arming station. She took up a long pole, tipped with a blade. The blade was not simply a sharp piece of metal, but was reinforced with repulsors and had a monomolecular edge. Rei swung it around like a quarterstaff in a smooth, practiced motion, and leapt into the attack. The Angel almost looked startled, and fell back, putting its foot through an apartment block in the process. Rei spun the spear and the blade sliced neatly into the meat of the Angel's thigh, and stuck there.

With a simple, elegant motion, it swept its hand, and severed the haft. Rei stumbled, the momentum of her swing carrying her, and the Angel stepped forward, swept its arm, and cleanly sliced through hers, just below the left shoulder. Rei's gurgling shriek rang the command center like a bell, and an alarm went off.

"What's happening?"

"She's dying," Akagi snapped, "She felt that."

The woman picked up a microphone and began cooing at the girl. The Angel struck again, piercing its claws through the Eva's thigh, and pushed her away, dragging them free. A high pressure spray of blood surged out, covering the beast in red that mingled with its own blue. Unit Zero stumbled, and fell to one knee.

"What is that alarm?" Gendo demanded.

"We have an unauthorized synchronization," said Hyuga. "It's Unit One."

Very slightly, Gendo smirked.

* * *

Toji ran through the crowd, shouting his sister's name. She'd just left for a minute. It was his fault. He sent her to buy him a drink, and she did it, and now she was gone. He screamed her name again, and shrugged out of someone's grasp, pressing through the throng of people. The crowd started to thin, and he saw her, a flash of dark hair over a face that was eerily close to his own, a face he'd known since he was born, the first thing he could remember. He ran for her, ducking out of a cop's grasp. The older man turned and ran, abandoning Toji to his fate. He skidded to a stop, grabbing her arms.

She was crying. His sister was crying.

"It's okay," he said, stupidly.

"It's not okay," she sobbed, "I got lost and I couldn't find you and there's too many people and I dropped your soda. I'm scared!"

"Come on, we have to go."

They were among the last out. Toji ran out into the street, half dragging Sakura with him, her shoulders hunched against him as if he could shelter her. He ducked on pure instinct as something rushed overhead. There were missiles someone was shooting at something. He ran with her, trying to find the other people, and realized he had no idea where to go. The shelter drills were all right around his apartment, and the blocks all had their own shelters. He looked for a sign, something, and finally saw the red box inside a blue box that signified a retreat, and headed for it.

"Where are we going?" said Sakura.

"We have to get to a shelter. We can't be outside."

"Toji," she gasped, "I think this is real. I think this is real."

Another missile sailed overhead. "It is real. We'll be okay. Just breathe, okay?"

She nodded. She was still crying. He wanted her to stop crying.

He ran around the corner with her, and found a wall of metal. The shelter had sealed. The fucking shelter had sealed, and they were outside, and alone. Toji froze; panic surging in his chest, until Sakura touched his shoulder.

"Come on," she said, her voice shaking, "There has to be another one. There's supposed to be time."

He ran, and stumbled as he felt a vibration roll through the ground under his feet, like an earthquake, but over too quickly. An explosion, maybe, or…

The buildings were sinking. The city was going into combat mode. He'd seen them go up, but never down. He didn't have time to stare. A pair of rails rocketed out of the ground, seeming to run forever, and after it there was a rush of air that pushed him off his footing, making him stumble as something rose out of the ground, a towering behemoth that made him feel sick from feeling so small. Sakura started to cry again.

He picked her up. She was only eight minutes younger than he was, but she felt like a bundle of twigs in his arms, clinging to his neck, and he ran. Something was happening to him, something awful and terrible. He felt like his veins were on fire, and the world was pounding like a drum. There were no more missiles.

Sakura screamed.

There was something else.

It was a nightmarish, misshapen thing, somehow elegant in its insanity, and he knew for one brief second as its blank black eyes swept over him that it saw him, that it knew and judged him and found him meaningless, less than a speck in the path to its true prey. In an instant it was past him, the ground rolling under his feet, and Sakura clutched him all the harder.

"We'll be okay," he shouted, repeating it like a mantra.

He needed shelter, some place to hide. He saw a door and ducked under the lintel, pressing against it, but it wouldn't move.

"I'm going to get us in," he said, lowering Sakura to her feet.

"Toji," she said, her voice high and thin and reedy and sounding just like it did when she broke her leg when she was eight, "Toji, my head hurts."

"We'll be okay," he said again, and shouldered into the door. He bounced off, screamed in animal fury, and ran into it again.

He stumbled. He felt heavy, like he had lead weights around his legs, and the door screamed off its hinges, the metal shearing off. It left a chunk of door with the dead bolt still in place spinning on the frame, and the door slid down the dark hallway. Toji grabbed Sakura, picked her up, and ran inside, skirting the fallen, dented door.

There was a series of booms that shook little streamers of dust out of the roof over his head. Toji didn't even know where he was, only that he was in a hallway. He saw a stairwell, kicked through it, ran for the stairs and jogged down, hoping that at least being underground would make him safe, would make Sakura safe. She couldn't die. She couldn't. She was moaning, clutching her head, and breaking out in a sweat. Toji was already sodden with perspiration, but hadn't noticed. He danced down the stairs.

He was thrown flat. He landed on Sakura, trying to shield her, if she hit her head _oh God_, he cradled her head in his hands and drew her up into a ball and covered her up as best as he could. The ground was shaking and rolling and with a tearing, shearing sound a crack wound up the wall next to him, slid up like a snake, and the roof sagged. He held Sakura very tightly and prayed every way he knew how, prayed for someone to please help her.

There was a tearing sound, a rumble, and something came down through the roof of the building. The walls came away, and it was as if a great foot just stomped through it and kept moving, and what was left of it lazily tilted over and swept down over his head and darkness came after it and he heard and saw nothing more.

* * *

Shinji pushed the button to lift the gantry as he fiddled with his helmet, working the collar up to the bottom of the helmet with one hand. It made a blunt, electronic _no-no _sound every time, the system locking him out. He finished buttoning up his collar, clenched his belly, and very casually ripped the entire gantry loose with his mind, raising his hands to direct the magnetic fields. It shot up, pushing him into the decking until his knees buckled and his head swam. He held it just long enough to step off onto the bridge that would carry him out to the Eva, then let go, and it fell away. A moment later he heard shouting and alarms as it crashed to the ground. He was busy moving his arm out, feeling the bridge resisting him as he stripped the track and forced it to the entry plug. By comparison, it was simple to twirl his finger and spin the hatch open.

Dropping inside, he pulled the door shut and spun it closed, and jammed the cables into the back of his helmet before running the straps over his legs and chest. The found the emergency LCL release lever, pulled it, and the substance started to drain into the plug, slipping up around his legs. He tugged the yoke into place and reached up. Unit One was rigged for field deployment; he could force it to synch remotely. He checked the switches and controls and threw the main switch, and felt the Eva shudder under him as the alien presence slid under his skin, pulling at him. Opening the power panel, he cut himself off from the shore jack and switched over to the internal reactor. He'd have about twenty minutes, less if he pushed it hard.

His father's voice rang in his ear. "Shinji. Stand down."

"No," said Shinji. "Launch me, or I'll tear my way out on my own."

"I could have you arrested for this."

"We don't have time for this, Dad. We have to do it, now."

"I'll send the Soryu girl. Get out of the plug."

"No. Launch me."

There was a click -he must have been using a handset- and the launch sequence started. He felt the Eva shudder as the systems came up, and felt the sudden drop in his stomach as the launch rails pressurized. He dug his helmet into the seat behind him, and blew out a breath, just as the acceleration kicked him and slammed him in the seat. The liquid envelope helped, but it felt like he'd suddenly gained a thousand pounds, and he felt the blood draining from his face, followed by a sudden moment of weightlessness that made his stomach roll as bright light shone through the view screen, hue-adjusted so that it looked normal in the LCL. He grabbed the yoke and edged forward, barely giving time for the explosive bolts to free him.

Unit Zero was lying on its side. The Angel was digging into it, slicing through its armor with long, scything claws. It noticed Shinji immediately and turned towards him as he headed for the armaments building. It was just like the simulation, except it wasn't. The thing was bearing down on him, scratching its way across the city. The Eva stumbled, and he felt a jarring creak of grinding bones in his not-leg, and pressed on. He could have used the onboard weapons but he already knew he needed something heavier.

Pulling it loose from the rack, he pulled the heavy gun down and swung it around, leaving the belt and power cable tied to the city grid. It was designed for anti-air fire, but he swung it low, the barrels spinning up for a second before a muffled roar filled his ears and the whole Eva shook under him with the fury of the explosions. A string of shells lanced up the street towards the Angel and trailed up its torso, ripping open pale, bleeding wounds in its chest. It turned, covering the core with h\its arm, and ran for him, ignoring the blasts ripping chunks out of its flank. With a swipe of its claws it scythed the spinning barrels into pieces and the gun came apart, spewing its mechanical guts as the chain drive ripped itself apart. Shinji stumbled backwards, overcompensating, and the Angel ripped the arms tower in half with two neat slices, stepped on the broken stump, and leapt at him.

He turned, trying to catch it by the wrists and hold back its claws. He caught one, the other glanced against his forearm and slid into the Eva's shoulder. He screamed, pain lancing through his own shoulder like a burning iron, and felt the blades twist in the Eva's joint, shredding the armor and flesh and forcing the bones apart. He struggled, trying to loose himself, knowing it was his end if he let go of the claw. He turned, dragging the Angel with him, trying to pull it down to its knees. It wriggled its arm loose, whipped it back, and raked it over the Eva's helmet, but it could have been his own face. His view screen went wild as one of the optics went out, but he wasn't worried about that. He let go of the controls and clawed at his helmet, trying to pull it off. His face was bleeding.

"Shinji!" someone shouted, "Get a grip! Get the controls!"

It was too much, too much. His head swam. More pain in his leg, his middle. He felt like he was floating, like he was crying, and his screaming was something distant, like driving by a stadium on a summer day, someone else crying out for Father, for Asuka, for Mother, for somebody, and his head spun and spun and the world went black.

He ate lunch with Hikari. He remembered that. Was that today? He did something stupid, he ruined it. He shouldn't have done that. He didn't want to die.

A tiny voice whispered in his ear.

_Hush. _

* * *

Gendo gripped the railing so hard it folded under his fingers, like clay. He tried to bend it back, but he was too busy barking orders. Shinji was dying. The Angel had wiped out Unit One's shoulder, taken out half the optics suite, crippled the left leg, and was stabbing its scything claws through the body. Without the AT Field, it was only a matter of minutes, maybe seconds until one of those claws slid through the plug and crushed Shinji to a pulp.

"Deploy Unit Two. Bring the batteries on line and compute a firing solution. Get the JSSDF on the line, I want Hammerdown on the table and ready for deployment."

"Sir-" Akagi shouted.

"Not now," Gendo roared, "Where is my air support? We need to get it off him-"

"It's going berserk," said Akagi, her voice cutting through the din.

It was followed, a moment later, by an animal roar of rage, a sound from ancient times come ago that rolled through the floor like an earthquake. Unit One shuddered, rolled, and broke free of the Angel, landing on all fours. It shifted, moving its damaged shoulder, shrugging out of the restraint pylon, now hanging down limply behind it. It clawed at its face, dragging its fingers over the jaw armor, and then yanked it free. There was an audible gasp in the CIC, drowned out when the Eva bellowed again, throwing its head back. The Angel hesitated. It knew.

Gendo stared in stunned silence, and slowly, his lips curled into a smile.

The Eva moved with alien, organic precision, too smoothly for a machine. It loped to the Angel on all fours, jumped up, and planted both feet in its chest. The Angel struggled free, rolling through the broken buildings behind it, rose to its feet, and slashed wildly. The Eva took a hit to the belly and leg but pressed on, shrieking in fury, earthshaking steps carrying it through the Angel's defenses. The AT Field crackled into being around it, whispering on the edge of visibility, washing away the Angel's protection to nothing. The entire room was silent, the only sounds the Eva's feral, wet snarling through the massive overhead speakers. It threw its head back, charged, and ducked low, bringing the horn on its helmet up through the Angel's belly. The born bored into the creature's flesh and snapped off, the Eva rearing with the force of the charge.

The Angel clawed at her, and as if she decided she could play that game too, the Eva's fingers flexed and the digital armor fell away, scythe-claws spiking from her fingertips. She raked the angel, tearing open long furrows of bloodless flesh, then buried her claws in it and dragged it around and pinned it to the earth, reared back, and began pounding fist after fist against the core in full body, lunging motions that shook the roof over his head with each impact. The Eva snarled and bent down, as if to bite, when the Angel shifted.

It pushed back, and then attacked. It leapt, throwing arms and legs around Unit One both, locking them in a death embrace.

"Core output spiking," Hyuga shouted, "Full spectrum energy spiral in the Angel's S2! It's going to-"

The room shook. The overhead lights swayed, then went black. Everything went black, everything darkening, lights flickering as the monitors struggled for life and found static instead. Gendo was on his knees, and dragged himself to his feet, pulling Summers along with him; at some point, she'd latched on to him. He didn't push her away as he found Fuyutsuki and offered him a hand, pulling him to his feet.

"He's alive," Ibuki said, shakily. "The pilot of Unit One is alive."

"Unit Zero?"

"Flatline," she whispered.

Everything was coming back up. The emergency lights, bathing the CIC in a crimson glow, shut off as the main lights came back up, and the main screen rolled through static until the view came back up. Gendo looked and he saw a shape striding through the city, a dark giant before the setting sun, and a rainbow was on his head. Blood rained from the sky, a red crescent over the sun, and smoke wreathed the giant's form. Unit One strode out of the remains of the blast like a titan of legend, like an ancient warrior in triumphal procession.

Like a god.

The Eva slowed, and then stopped. It sank to its knees, then sagged, and fell against the remains of the armaments building.

Gendo shook Summers off and ran to the edge of the flying bridge. "Rescue crews to both Evas, now. _Now."_

* * *

Toji was sitting on a hospital bed, and he didn't remember how he got there. He blinked a few times. He was dressed in a hospital gown, and he was awake and sitting up, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. He didn't remember going to the hospital, or being sick or being hurt. He knew his father was outside, just past a curtain, because he saw him in silhouette and heard him speak.

"I don't understand," his father shouted. "What the hell is going on?"

"Sir," the doctor said in a tired voice that was losing its edge of compassion, "I told you. Your daughter has a concussion, a broken leg, and a chipped vertebrae. I can't let you see her now, she's in surgery. We're trying to save her leg."

Oh.

Oh no.

Sakura.

"Where's my boy?"

The doctor shifted from foot to foot, breathing hard. "That's just it, sir. I need to ask you a few questions about him."

"Why? Tell me where he is!"

"Sir, I-"

"Is he dead? Is my son even alive? Tell me!"

Toji got up. He remembered now, the shadow of the giant falling over him, over them. He remembered clutching Sakura, trying to shield her, keep her safe. He remembered praying, but it was really just _please, _over and over, and it sounded like nobody had listened. He wondered why he wasn't walking stiffly. He didn't feel any pain. He was covering Sakura with his body. She wasn't supposed to be hurt. It was supposed to be him. He was supposed to save her. He pulled the curtain back, just as the doctor spoke.

"That's just it," the doctor said, levelly, staring at Toji. "There isn't a scratch on him."

"Where is she?" Toji snapped. "I need to see her. Let me see her."

The doctor put his hands on Toji's shoulders. "Sit down, young man. We need to finish-"

Toji shrugged out of his grasp. "Let me see her!"

"Toji," Dad said quietly. He turned to the doctor. "Will you excuse us?"

Dad stepped into the room -it was more of a stall, really- and pulled the curtain closed. He looked like an older, thicker Toji, slightly balding but with an impish way about him that was missing now. He pushed Toji back to the bed until he sat down, and then sat next to him. Toji stared at the floor for a moment.

He started sobbing.

"I tried," he moaned, scrubbing at his face with his hands. "They closed the shelter early and I couldn't find another one. I tried to find another place that was safe," he sobbed again, hard, his escaping breath leaving him in gasps and shudders, "It fell on us."

He plunged his face into his hands and bawled, shaking. "It's my fault."

Dad rubbed his back. "Just let it out. Trust me."

"Is she going to die?"

"The doctors say she'll live. They're not sure about her leg. She'll be here for a while."

"It's my fault," he said again.

"It's not your fault, Toji. You don't control everything."

"She's my responsibility," he protested, gasping sharply. "Mom told me to take care of her."

"I know, boy, I know. You did your best. That's all you could do?"

"Then why wasn't it _me?"_

Toji blinked. He realized he'd shouted, looked around. He could see silhouettes turning to watch him, feel their eyes through the thin plastic of the curtains. He hugged himself and shuddered. Dad found a towel and wiped his face, under his nose like he was a little kid. He willed himself to stop, to be a man and stop crying, but it just wouldn't leave him alone. He gasped again and hugged himself tighter.

"Toji," Dad said softly. "If I could trade myself for your mother, I would. I'd do it today. I can't. It doesn't work that way. We just have to take what comes. We need to be thankful she's alive. A lot of people died today."

"What do you mean?"

"The battle didn't go well. I heard rumors from the tech division. One of the pilots didn't make it, the other is in the hospital. Shinji, I think, the Commander's boy."

"Do you know where he is?" said Toji.

Dad shook his head. "Not here. Probably at the Nerv infirmary. Every hospital in the city is swamped."

Toji nodded.

"I want you to go home and get some sleep. They have her sedated. I won't let her wake up alone, Toji. She knows how much you love her."

"I can't-"

Toji," Dad sighed, "There's somebody who's hurt who needs this bed. Go on. When I go in to work, you can come back."

Toji, finally, nodded, and got up. Dad walked him out. It was dark and it was raining. He didn't much care. He walked through it, realized he didn't know where he was, and walked to a train station for a map. It wasn't far to home, luckily. He walked instead of taking the train. They didn't look to be running, anyway. Everything was dark. He crossed through a few alleys, walking through a daze.

That morning, Sakura was smiling, jumping and spinning and kicking his ass at Dance Dance Revolution. Now this. He was glad it was raining. No one would see him crying like a pussy. He made it onto his block and walked down the sidewalk, hands thrust in his pockets. He looked up, just in time to see something bright dart across the street and duck between two houses. He jogged to the alley and followed.

The garbage cans were upturned, and there was something white huddled up against the fence. He blinked and realized it was a girl, huddling and shivering. She was dressed in some kind of tight fitting space suit thing, but it was all torn up. He edged closer, holding up his hand, and she shuddered, staring at him with big, crimson eyes under a fringe of silvery blue hair, plaited to her head by the rain. Her suit was all mangled and she was barefoot. Her feet were bleeding. There was another cut on her arm, and a bruise on her cheek.

"Hey," he said, softly. "Hey, it's alright."

She looked to be about his age, but perilously skinny, like she'd been on a sharp diet.

"Hey," he said again.

"I'm scared," the girl said. It was barely a whisper.

"It's okay. I'm Toji. What's your name?"

"My name is Rei," said the girl.

"Okay. I'll help you, Rei. Are you hurt?"

She nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to pick you up, and I'll get you to the hospital."

"No!" she shouted, struggling to get up, fingers looped through the fence. "They'll find me!"

"Okay," Toji said, stopping. He put his hands back up. "I'll take you to my house. I won't tell anybody, okay? I can't leave you out here."

She nodded, folding her arms over her chest. He crouched beside her. She looked like a drowned rat. He slid his arm under her knees.

"Your suit is slippery. Grab my neck, okay?"

She nodded, and put her arms around his neck, and he stood up, stunned by how light she was. He carried her to the edge of the alley, then up the front porch of the house. He had to set her down, wincing as he thought of her hurt feet. She stank of blood. She leaned on him while he opened the door, nestling her head in the crook of his shoulder. When the door swung open, he pushed inside, picking her up again, and kicked it closed behind him, then carried her up to the bathroom. He lowered her onto the toilet and turned on the water, holding his hand under it to test the temperature.

In the light, he got a better look at her. She was thin and reedy, but she was incredibly pretty, like model pretty, despite her unusual features. She looked at the water and back at him. He pulled his hand out when it heated up, turned it down a bit, and then let the tub fill.

She stood up, and started to strip off. She wasn't wearing anything under her suit.

"Hey!" Toji gasped, turning away.

"What is wrong?"

"Cover up, okay? We just met."

The girl blinked. When he looked back, she was covering her chest with her arms, but the suit hung down to her waist.

"Will you be okay by yourself? When you get cleaned up I'll help you bandage those cuts."

"Thank you."

He stepped out, his heart pounding. He was _not _going to perv on this girl, even if she had really nice-

_Gah!_

He shook his head. He needed clothes for her. He felt a pang of remorse and sniffed as he stepped gingerly into Sakura's room, then pulled back; he still had his shoes on. He slipped them off, promised to clean up after himself later. He was unwise in the ways of girls and their garments, but he knew she'd need underwear, a shirt, and pants, so that was a start. He thought about taking her a bra, but he had no idea if one of his sister's would fit her, anyway. She was shorter and thinner, and, ah, bigger. He put the stuff in a pile on his arm and knocked on the door.

"I'm going to leave you some clothes, okay? Can I come in?"

"Yes," she said.

He paused. "Pull the shower curtain shut, okay?"

He heard a rustle, and stepped inside. The girl was in the bath, hidden behind the curtain. He put the lid of the toiler down, put the clothes on it, and dropped a couple of towels on top. Sakura always used two, one for her body and one for her hair, and she was his window into the alien world of the female species, so two towels it was.

"There's some towels, too," he said.

"Thank you. The water is warm."

He blinked. "That's good, right?"

"Yes. It is good."

He stepped out, pulling the door shut behind him, then stopped. "Hey, are you hungry?"

"Yes."

He scratched his head. "Can I get you something?"

"I dislike eating meat."

Okay, no meat. He could handle that. He went down to the kitchen on the quest for a meatless meal, letting the search distract him. He ended up with a bowl of breakfast cereal, a salad, and some marshmallows. The Suzahara household was light on meatless meals. He was carrying them up when Rei opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around her head, and the other around her waist, and that was pretty much it. He froze and snapped his eyes shut.

"Miss," he said, "Please put on some clothes."

"Oh. I am sorry," she said, and stepped back into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, she stepped out. Realizing it was dumb to expect her to eat in the bathroom, he helped her limp downstairs instead. She ate with her fingers. He stared at her for a second, and then shrugged. He pulled her feet into his lap, one at a time, and made sure they were really clean before he touched them up with some ointment and bandages. He tended the cut on her arm, too, rolling up the short sleeve of Sakura's babydoll shirt. It was on the edge of needing a stitch or two, but he made sure it was clean and put a good bandage on it. By then, she was done eating.

"I am thirsty," she said. "May I have a drink, please?"

Toji shrugged and got up. He set a glass of soda in front of her. She poked it with her finger, and watched the surface undulate and foam slightly.

"That is not water. It is pink."

"It's soda," said Toji.

"Soda," said Rei. "I have heard of soda."

She picked up the glass, and then took a sip. Her eyes lit up, and she quickly downed the rest. "I would like more."

He poured it for her. "You like it?"

She nodded, vigorously.

"Miss… Rei, right? What are you doing here? Who don't you want to find you?"

"I am the pilot of Unit Zero. I do not want to go back to Nerv. They hurt me. They will hurt me because I ran away."

Toji's jaw dropped.

* * *

Hikari sat at a table. It looked like a table at a cheap restaurant, like a fast food place, or a noodle house. She might sit at similar tables bolted down out from of a food stand, or in front of a counter serving cheap burgers. Nozomi was asleep on her lap, curled against her chest. She turned sideways and had her legs up, settling her younger sister against her knees. In a few years, maybe less, Nozomi would start to catch up to her, and she wouldn't sit on Hikari's lap like this anymore. If any of them survived that long.

Kodama was praying. Hikari had never seen her pray before. Once Hikari arrived at the shelter, she clammed up and said almost nothing, probably embarrassed by how she'd sounded over the phone. Her father was asleep, thankfully, his chin resting on his broad chest. It was the first time she'd seen him in three days. Hikari couldn't sleep. The shaking of the ground above, the murmured pleas from the people around her, it was all too much. She was lucky to make it to the shelter at all.

The shelters were sort of lived in. There had been a number of drills, though she'd only been through one or two since her family moved to the city. There was some stuff lying around, and a stack of books on one of the tables. She shifted, lifting Nozomi, and lowered her onto Kodama's lap. Her older sister shifted and put her arms around the youngest, and when Hikari was sure they weren't going to fall, she got up and stretched her legs, wandering past the stack of books. She glanced at the spines, sighing.

On the bottom was a copy of _The Trial of Peter Parker_. Hikari blinked. She carefully shifted the stack and picked it up. It was as dog-eared and worn as the copy she had at home. If anything, it could have been the same. She looked around and took it, shuffling back to her seat. They'd been in the shelter for a while now, and the battle seemed to be over. Everyone was asleep. She sat down so she could have the soft light overhead above her shoulder, and cracked the book open, trying to remember the page she was on.

Someone had underlined the words, as though they had some meaning. Her eyes naturally tracked to the underlined words.

_When the prosecutor asked Peter why he did what he did, he said "because I can". He was wrong. He did what he did because no one else would, because we were all too happy to let men in masks carry our futures on their backs while we sat back and offered commentary from the peanut gallery._

The next line was not only underlined, but had a box drawn around it, and little arrows pointing to it.

_Peter Parker should never have had to be Spider-Man. The critics are right. Gwen Stacy should never have died. It wasn't Parker's fault. It wasn't Parker's fault that he was alone, that he had to face a madman threatening his family, and he a poor kid from Queens, and his enemy a rich man from Wall Street. People had been talking about Norman Osborn's increasingly irrational behavior for years. The Green Goblin had been active for half a decade. No one did anything, because we knew Spider-Man would handle it for us. _

_We made that decision. We are all as guilty as Osborn was, as if we'd pushed that little girl off the bridge ourselves. We let somebody else handle it. It wasn't our concern. It wasn't our _job.

Hikari choked up a little as she read the next line.

_It wasn't our problem._

"Powerful, isn't it?"

Hikari looked up.

"Mister Lawson?"

He sat on the bench, wearing his impish grin. She'd never seen a teacher in street clothes before. He looked unremarkable in his jeans and white shirt, and he wasn't as muscular as she'd always, err, imagined. He leaned back against the next row down.

"I hope you don't mind my sneaking up on you. I saw you reading my copy of the book and wondered why you didn't bring yours."

"I was at the mall," Hikari said softly.

"Ah, the follies of youth. I'll have you know I would have been studying."

Hikari looked at him flatly.

"Granted, I had my share of mischief. I still do, from time to time. I think they shall be letting us go, soon."

Hikari nodded. "Probably. Do you think it's over?"

"No. No, my dear, it is most decidedly not over."

Hikari turned her head in time to hear one of the policemen walking through the shelter, announcing that they were released. She turned to nudge Kodama awake, and then glanced over shoulder.

"I'll see you on… Monday?"

Lawson was gone. Hikari shrugged, and nudged Kodama until she woke up. Nozomi took longer, and Dad longest of all. He sat up and looked at the three girls and smiled.

"Ladies," he sighed. "I think we're free."

He ran his hand down the back of Kodama's head and helped her stand up. Nozomi didn't want to get up, so Hikari took her, letting the girl rest her head on her shoulder, and brought up the rear, following the others out. She did feel tired, now.

* * *

"I'm disappointed in you, Shinji. You lost focus."

Shinji sat up, slowly. He was in a darkened room. He blinked a few times, his bedroom. Father sat beside him in a side chair, reading a copy of a certain magazine that Shinji thought he'd done a better job of hiding. He turned the magazine slightly, frowning in appraisal.

"I only read that for the articles."

Gendo tossed the magazine to the corner of the room. Shinji rested on his knees. He'd been dressed in an undershirt and shorts, and was covered in bandages. There was one on his thigh, on his forearm, and most notably, one on his face. He touched it, tracing the smooth material of the bandage down from the side of his eye to his jaw, on the left side.

"Your future bride will like that. A dueling scar."

Shinji scowled, but said nothing. He started to move. He felt weak, he needed food. Father gently pushed him back into bed and snapped his fingers. Shinji nearly jumped out of his skin. Dr. Summers walked into the room in a bathrobe, carrying a tray of food, and pouting.

"He never brings _me _breakfast in bed," she snapped, voice dripping with mock petulance. "How is our brave hero pilot?"

Shinji stared at her as though she were a particularly loathsome insect, edging away, and making sure to cover himself as he did. He also, rather dumbly, hoped she wouldn't notice the skin mag his father had tossed in the corner. She put the tray on the bed and gave Gendo a little kiss on the forehead, and stalked out, hips swaying. She pulled the door shut behind her. Gendo's eyes glazed over for a moment, as if he stared at something distant, and his mouth fell open slightly.

"Did she make this?" said Shinji, glancing at the covered tray.

He shook his head, blinking. "What? No, of course not. We have a staff for a reason."

"What is she _doing_ here?"

Gendo looked at Shinji levelly, and lowered his voice. "You're old enough to understand, boy. She's a valuable asset and I want to keep her close to me."

Shinji snorted.

"I admit, she is an attractive woman, and I have needs," he glanced at the magazine. "It's also useful to our purpose. Think of it as a… cover. Seele thinks my motives are simple. I would keep it that way."

Shinji looked at him flatly. "If you say mother would understand…"

"No," said Gendo, "she would not. She will forgive me, though. When all is said and done, we will have a union that goes beyond the physical. You know what awaits us when the Scenario is complete."

Shinji looked out the window. "We can bring her back," said Shinji.

"Yes. If I have to sleep with a woman to do it, I will... She knows that. We make no pretense of being in love."

"You loved my mother," said Shinji.

"Love," Gendo corrected. "Do not speak of her as if she is gone. I wanted to speak with you about what you did today, Shinji. I should have you in chains, in the brig. You stole a multi-trillion dollar piece of equipment. An Eva is not a toy."

"Rei-"

"Is expendable. You are not. Unit One is not, yet you risked it anyway."

"We won," said Shinji. "Would you have let that thing kill her? What if it killed Asuka, too?"

"Better her, than you."

Shinji's jaw clenched. He closed his hand and the tray of food folded on itself and crumpled into a ball, and flicked it to the side. The tray embedded itself in the wall with a solid _chunk_ sound, sending little chips of plaster to the floor.

"What did I tell you about temper tantrums with your powers? I'm going to have to pay to have that fixed."

Shinji swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, sagging for a moment, then seized his resolve and got to his feet. He shambled over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of slacks, and started grunting to pull them on. Gendo gently grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back to the bed, and sat him down.

"Perhaps that was a little harsh. I know the marriage contract chafes at you, but you could be worse off. If you saw her mother, you'd be less reluctant, I assure you."

He stood up. "Just remember what is at stake, Shinji. What we can lose. Our victory is not certain. Not yet."

Shinji nodded.

"When you are feeling better, you should get some air. Let the staff know if you need anything."

* * *

Hikari sat in Sakura Suzahara's room, watching her sleep. She would keep her leg. That was good. Toji was sitting nearby, asleep, his arms draped over the arms of his chair, his legs stuck out in front of him, snoring loudly. Hikari sighed, and it came out in spurts and stutters, threatening to turn back into a sob. Some part of her still wanted to believe she'd done the right thing. Could she have gotten them to a shelter in time? Found Sakura that much sooner? Didn't Kodama and Nozomi have a right to their sister?

The bandages wrapped around Sakura's head, the oxygen tube in her nose, the cast on her leg and the bandages on her arms and legs, none of these said yes. They all said no. She was starting to wish she hadn't read that damn book. It was weighing on her mind. She remembered the text as clearly as if she were reading it now.

_It wasn't our problem._

She sat up, and touched her lips to Sakura Suzahara's cheek, and left, ghosting her fingers over Toji's hand. He snorted and moved in his sleep, but did not wake. She would see him soon, at school. It was Sunday afternoon, and as she walked out of the hospital, her shadow stretched out far in front of her, reaching unseen places. She decided to walk home, sprinting here and there. She needed time to think, and to plan. She thought of the anguish Toji must be feeling, how he'd blame himself. It wasn't his fault.

It was hers. She could have helped him, but she didn't. She ran away, because it was the obvious, easy choice, and she sat and hid when she could have chosen to help instead. Everything about her screamed at her to crush these thoughts, to ignore them, to file them away or find some other way to help. She didn't want to break the law, but the _Trial_ wasn't the only book she read. She read other books that said people had a duty to break an unjust law. Mr. Lawson had been very emphatic about that. He made a joke about it- "rules are made to be broken, and suggestions are made to be ignored"- but he was deadly serious, especially for him.

She stopped in front of a clothing boutique. She knew it, but never shopped there. She couldn't afford clothes like that on her father's salary, but she ducked inside anyway. She had a feeling. Something had caught her eye, at the back of the store. She walked over to it.

"We're closing a minute," the clerk said.

"I'll just be a second," said Hikari.

She took the hooded sweatshirt down from the rack. It was black, but silhouetted in white across the chest was a shape. A spider, with a narrow body and eight jagged legs that reached around to join with the same symbol on the back. It zipped down the front. She put it on, shrugging into it, and zipped it up to the neck. She stepped to the side, and looked at herself in the mirror. She took it off, quickly, and put it back on the hangar, and then back on the rack. It would cost her a month's allowance.

She took it down and carried to the desk at the front. The clerk rang her up, and she ran her card. She just barely had enough to cover it.

"Pretty cool, huh?" the clerk said. He was older, Kodama's age, but not the kind of boy she liked, a little too on the skinny side.

"Yeah," Hikari said absently, "It's cool."

She took her bag, and the clerk flashed her a sign. He put his two hands together, making little hooks with his thumbs, and held his fingers out straight.

"Spider-Man lives, right?"

Hikari nodded.

She walked out of the store, bag in hand, and looked up at the slowly rising skyscrapers, finally emerging from the ground after the battle zone was cleared.

"Yeah," she said to herself. "Spider-Man lives."


	6. Fallout

_Previously on…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_When the Third Angel attacked, Rei was forced to pilot, and lost- badly. Willing to put himself in harm's way to rescue her, Shinji seized control of Unit One, and lost- badly. Somehow, the Eva awoke and defeated the Angel and Shinji regained consciousness later, only to discover Natalie Summers in his own house, openly cavorting with Gendo. _

_Meanwhile, Toji and Sakura were trapped outside and caught in a collapsing building. Toji awoke in the hospital to find himself inexplicably uninjured while Sakura was unconscious and badly hurt. On his way home he discovered Rei, cowering in an alley after fleeing the wreckage of Unit Zero. _

_Hikari spent the attack in a shelter with her family, wracked with guilt for failing to use her powers to help Toji find his sister and bring them both to safety. Resolving never to let someone else's suffering be someone else's problem, she prepares herself to become the Spectacular Spider-Girl!_

* * *

"**FALLOUT"**

* * *

Maya walked into the lab with a cup of coffee in hand and a pen in her mouth, and dropped both. She did not expect to meet Ritsuko, lying on a table at the end of the lab, resting face-down on her lab coat, with her clothes piled up on a nearby chair, and a towel covering her backside. She stared vacantly for a moment, watching the mechanical arms that were hanging from the ceiling and doing _something_ to her back, which looked different. Parts of her old spine, her mechanical augments, anyway, were strewn about the lab.

"Oh, great," said Ritsuko. "You're here. I need your help, I-"

Maya gaped.

"Maya, look, this is probably not the worst thing you are going to catch me doing. Will you help, or not?"

"O-okay," said Maya. "What do I have to do?"

"Were almost done, here," said Ritsuko. "See the big socket on my back?"

Maya nodded. The plates covering her spine were a darker material, now- it looked like some sort of composite material, and was much more intricate than what she'd seen before. At the small of her back was the socket she mentioned, open and round. Maya looked into it and winced, expecting to see bones or muscle or something, but it was just metal.

"Pick up that canister on the table."

The canister must have been a battery. It was heavy when she tested it in her hand. She turned it over, finding a kind of plug on the bottom, though it looked more like a computer component than a power jack. She saw where it mated with a slot in Ritsuko's, err, socket and slipped it in.

"Ooh, yeah, just like that."

Maya froze. Ritsuko sighed. "I was kidding, just shove it in there."

She pushed down, and with a little crunch of a complex socket fitting together, the canister popped into place and Ritsuko's back lit up, little LED's running up and down her spine. She sighed, and wiggled her toes, then relaxed, melting into the table.

"Are you okay?" said Maya.

"Better than okay. I'd forgotten what it was not to hurt all the time. Want to give me a massage?"

Maya's eyes widened. "I don't think that would be a-a-appropriate," she stammered.

"Fine, spoilsport. Would you hand me my bra?"

Maya plucked the silky undergarment from the pile and handed it to her in time to turn around as the other woman sat up and stretched her arms over her head, making small joint popping sounds, and then began to dress. A moment later she was in a pair of loose sweat pants and a t-shirt that stretched YOU CAN'T AFFORD ME over her impressive bust, and elbowed Maya in the side as she pulled her lab coat on.

"Don't you think you should wear something a little more professional?" said Maya.

Ritsuko looked at her flatly. "Nah."

* * *

Toji had an unanticipated problem. There was a girl in his bed. He'd slept the night in Sakura's bed, and in waking, found himself staring around her small bedroom, trying not to let his misting eyes turn into more tears. He had to be a man. He had responsibilities. As he got up, he feverishly hoped it was all a strange dream, that there was no Rei, and that he did not have a very weird looking girl who claimed to be a fugitive Nerv giant robot pilot sleeping in his bed. As he stepped around the corner and slid the door to his room open, he sighed. Nope, still there.

Rei lay curled in the middle of his bed, hugging a pillow to her chest, with her legs drawn up and her back arched in the fetal position, snoring softly, the sheets and blanket bundled around her as if she'd tossed and turned and her sleep rather heavily before hugging the pillow. Currently, she dozed softly, apparently unruffled by the lack of a pillow under her head. Toji leaned over her and thought about trying to slide the other one under her, and ended up just brushing her hair out of her eyes. She'd gained a little color, but that just meant her skin looked like whole milk, not skim. Something brushed his leg.

He didn't remember Rei having a tail last night. He took a step back, and his jaw fell open. The appendage, emerging from the waistband of her borrowed underwear, was about three feet long and tipped in a fleshy triangle that quivered slightly, the tips folding in and out like a set of fingers. The tail lifted up and curled around her, and she shuffled slightly in the bed and sat up, a confused flashing over her face before she recognized him. She sat up and adjusted her shirt, pulling one strap up over her shoulder and tugging it down to cover her taut belly. She looked at the tail, then at Toji.

"Are you okay?" he said, dumbly.

"I am fine," she said, yawning. She didn't bother covering her mouth. "I am hungry."

"Okay," said Toji. "I have to figure out what to do. I can't take you to school with me."

"I will remain here," said Rei.

"You can't, my dad-"

"Toji!" Dad called, stepping into the house. "Are you getting ready for school?"

Toji's head whipped around. He stared at Rei.

"Quick, hide!"

"Where?" said Rei.

Dad was coming up the stairs. He tapped on the door, and then slid it open. Toji turned around, frantically flailing his arms, as if that would somehow covert he half -mostly, actually- naked mutant girl in his bedroom. His father looked at him as if he was mad, and sniffed the air.

"Boy, what's that's smell?"

Toji blinked. He did smell something, like burnt eggs. He looked around. Rei had vanished, leaving him alone in an empty room. Maybe he did just dream her, after all.

"I'm just here to change, and then I have to get on to work. I'll see you at the hospital after school, alright?"

Toji nodded, and he slid the door closed. Toji swallowed and looked around, and then without warning, there was a whiff of a subtle, foul smell, and Rei just appeared, folded out of the air in a wisp of smoke that hung around her like a haze and then drifted off, vanishing into the air. She shivered, hugging herself.

"What the… where did you go?"

"The roof," Rei whispered. "I could not let him see me. He would take me back."

Toji grabbed her shoulders, and tried to ignore how soft and smooth her skin was. "No one will take you back. I promise."

Rei nodded, but she looked sullen. "I should not have run away. They will be mad at me. Dr. Summers will hurt me."

"Hey," Toji said, softly. "Nobody is going to hurt you. You can stay as long as you want, okay?"

Rei nodded. "I am still hungry."

"Wait until my Dad leaves," said Toji, "then we'll get you something to eat. Then, I have to go. Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I think so," said Rei, rubbing her arms. "It is cold in here."

"It's the air conditioning. You need more clothes. I can get you some of my sister's stuff."

Toji blinked, and felt a wave of shock roll through him as he realized that Rei was standing in front of him and not wearing very much. He blushed furiously as he brushed past her to stick his head out in the hall, make sure Dad was gone, and walk gingerly into Sakura's room. He grabbed a pile of warm looking clothes, lounge pants and the like, and took them into his room. Rei pulled the pants on first, and Toji left her silently, to head into the bathroom. He still had to get to school at some point, and shower.

Once he'd stripped off, he went to turn the water on. As he stepped on the small rug just outside the shower stall, it moved, and he windmilled his arms, struggling for balance. The rug slid on the damp floor and his feet went out from under him. He fell down, the world spinning wildly around him, and heard a sharp crack that he realized, a moment later, was his head hitting the tile floor. He sat up and looked down. One of the tiles had neatly cracked in half from the impact. He touched the back of his head, expecting to draw away fingers wet with blood, but there was nothing. He didn't feel dizzy, or anything. In fact, he didn't feel anything _at all_.

He sighed as he looked at the cracked tile. He didn't want anyone to cut themselves, so he used a spare towel to dry the floor and put the rug over it. There was some caulk in the kitchen drawer; he'd fix it when he got home from school. As he got up, he dimly remembered he had homework and hadn't done any of it. He stepped under the water, and sighed. It felt pleasantly warm.

Steam was pouring out of the shower head, and he blinked. He'd turned the water all the way up, so the thankless heater would get the water hot quickly. Scalding hot water was pouring out all over him, and he barely felt it. He turned it down a bit and scrubbed a bar of soap through his hair -touching the fancy shampoos reminded him too much of his sister- and looked at the water knob as he scrubbed his hair. He turned the hot water off, expecting to wince and scream when it went ice cold, but he didn't feel that, either. It just felt like water. He blinked a few times.

There was soap in his eyes. He couldn't tell.

He splashed water in his face a few times to clear them out, then rinsed out his hair and let himself drip dry a bit before getting out. He stopped in the hallway, still betowled, when he realized that Rei was still in his room, along with all of his clothes. He tapped on the door with his fingers.

"Rei, can you step out for a minute? I need to dress."

The door slid open and she emerged, dressed in a loose sweatshirt and thick pants, and he was glad of it, as he really, really did not want to see her in her underwear again while wearing nothing but a towel. As she stepped out her jaw dropped and her gaze swept up and down, nakedly appraising him. He rushed into the room and pulled the door shut, breathing hard, trying to steady himself for a second. He was having a very strange day, and he was going to be late for school. He dressed quickly, got his hair as dry as he could as fast as he could, and headed downstairs.

Rei had already poured herself a bowl of breakfast cereal and was piling up some slices of cheese with mayonnaise layered on top of them, and was staring at a carton of juice, as if she didn't know what it was. Toji gently took it out of her hands and opened it for her. She took a sip and her eyes lit up.

"Stay here, okay?" said Toji.

"I will."

He gave her a second look as he headed out the door, and sprinted in hopes he could catch the train on time.

* * *

Hikari did something very dangerous.

She unpacked her backpack, and added a few extra items. On the very bottom, she placed a pair of folded tabi boots. On top of them, she folded a pair of black tights, and a pair of thin gloves. On top of that, she placed the sweatshirt she'd bought, and a pair of goggles, big enough that they could serve as a mask if she pulled her hood up over her head, with silvered, reflective lenses that covered half her face. On top of that she put her books and her laptop and all her other things, and when she shrugged on the pack and walked out her front door, it felt like it weighed a million pounds. Wearing a mask in public was a crime. Vigilante activity was a crime.

It made her chest tight just to think about it. She wasn't going to go out swinging around the city. She was just going to make sure that nobody got trapped outside of a shelter the next time there was an attack. That was all. No one would see her, no one would care. It made her a little more comfortable with it as she rode the train to school, her backpack strap in one hand and the handle over her head in the other. She made sure not to rip it off the wall, this time. As the train pulled up, she joined the flow of students heading into the building. She didn't see Toji anywhere, but Kensuke was at his locker, fiddling with some gadget. She was about to say something to him when she saw Shinji.

The other students cleared a path for him as he walked down the hall, shying away from the intensity of his gaze. Half of his face was covered in bandages, and he walked stiffly, holding his left arm at his side in an unnaturally straight way. Asuka and Mari flanked him, staring challenges at everyone. Hikari stepped out in front of them as she closed her locker.

"What happened?"

"Out of the way," Asuka snapped.

"Shut up," said Hikari, then back to Shinji, "What happened?"

"Nothing," he said, sullenly.

Asuka stepped between them. "I tire of your insolence."

"Yeah?" Hikari said, sneering. "What are you going to do about it?"

_What am I doing?_

Asuka's teeth clenched, and Mari felt a sharp buzz at the back of her skull, but she was used to it now, almost comforted it by it. Asuka's hand balled into a fist, but Hikari didn't need her to telegraph the punch. It was neat, clean, Asuka's fist held vertical as she struck, and the blow was followed up by a quick follow up and the beginning of a kick. She had training, and a lot of it, and she was fast, and moved in the fluid way that conferred a lot of power to quick, precise strikes.

None of them landed. Hikari watched Asuka's fist sail by her head with agonizing slowness, and twisted to avoid the blow to her ribs, then stepped out of the way of the kick with a short little hop, watching Asuka's face twist from rage to surprise as she hit nothing but air. Something about the buzzing in the back of her head twisted around and she saw Mari tense, and then it faded. Mr. Lawson stepped out into the hall.

"What's going on here?"

Time snapped back to normal, and Asuka stumbled, almost pitching forward onto her face, but recovered smoothly at the last minute. Hikari stepped away from her as Lawson stepped between them, looking around.

"Are you all aware of the penalties this school imposes for fighting?"

"Yes," Asuka snapped.

Hikari nodded.

"It's a good thing I didn't see any _actual _fighting, he said with a smirk, prompting soft giggles from the crowd. I think everyone is going to be late for class."

Hikari blinked in surprise, but said nothing. Asuka looked at her with a new expression on her face, a mixture of wariness, confusion, and something approximating a brief flicker of respect. As she walked past, Mari winked, and flicked her fingers. Hikari saw the briefest flash of claws emerging from her fingertips, and they were gone again. She grabbed her books and headed for Miss Katsuragi's class, sighing. Shinji didn't even look at her.

Lawson stopped her with his hand on her arm.

"Did you start that?"

"Sort of," Hikari whispered. "I'm sick of her attitude."

Lawson glanced at the trio as they walked into the classroom.

"Ah, it's that boy. I don't want to see you fighting, Hikari. That one won't hold back. I don't want to see you expelled from school, but I don't want to see you get hurt, either."

Hikari nodded, her cheeks coloring with embarrassment. Lawson glanced at his watch.

"You're late. I'd best deliver you to class. I can be late all I want, remember?"

She nodded and walked beside him, her books and laptop pressed to her chest. When Katsuragi saw her, she was about to deliver a rebuke, maybe send her to the office, when she spotted Lawson, and Hikari rushed up the stairs to her seat, sticking to the opposite wall of the auditorium, and sat down next to Kaworu, who was holding a pen in her mouth and furiously typing to get the notes from the board. Hikari could copy from her later, probably.

"I saw that," Kaworu whispered, brushing her hair out of her face. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Standing up to her."

Hikari looked around. Shinji had pulled his jacket off and draped it over his seat. From the bulge, his shoulder and arm were bandaged. He looked around, caught her gaze, and looked at her levelly, frowning slightly. She locked her eyes on his and mouth, "Lunch," then, "Roof".

He shook his head. She nodded vigorously. He shook his head again, and she stuck her tongue out. She saw the most minimal smile, the barest hint of teeth, and he shrugged. The shrug meant _maybe_, but the smile meant the only way he wouldn't meet her on the roof for lunch was if Asuka got her hooks in him first.

* * *

Ritsuko tapped her finger against her chin and rocked slightly in her office chair, thinking. She had to find a fundamental new approach to the design of her suit, and she had to do it before Maya got back from the busywork she'd been dispatched on. The most important thing was the design and armor of the back plating, which protected and connected to her spine and the power supply in her back. She also had to make sure it wasn't obvious that she wasn't walking around with an incredibly dangerous alien power source in her ass.

She glanced at the duffel bag she had tucked against the wall, under one of the lab tables. She's already started with a basic flight test prototype, a pair of boots and a hip/leg harness to keep them from tearing her limbs off when she fired them up. Slowly, she'd been picking up pieces of the suit she'd stolen from Koschei and sneaking them in, one at a time, and she was beginning to work things out, make some guesses at the approaches Stark had made to his suits beyond the ancient schematics she'd been able to pull up, and she was incorporating the design of the Evas into it. The thing she couldn't crack was the idea of the suit projecting an AT Field. She'd never thought about it before she was forced to, but now it wouldn't leave her head.

The problem was, the armor the Evas wore had nothing to do with their AT-Field, the Field was generated by the creature itself. The cybernetic enhancements jammed into the creature's back tapped either the onboard reactor or the shore power supply to strengthen the field, but it was created by the entity itself, shaped and directed by the pilot's mind and will. Something about that itched her mind. Humans had fields too, after all. The buffer systems were designed to keep it from eroding and merging with the Eva. Something about that bothered her, too.

She closed the Iron Man file and sat back. Mother said that Yui Ikari was murdered, but didn't she die in an Eva accident? Ritsuko never knew what happened to her. Most of the staff that were at the facility had been transferred out, and Mother never spoke of it. It was maddening, thinking about it. She wanted Ritsuko to know about it, and acted as if the information had been dangerous. Was that why she was killed, because she figured it out? Did the same person kill them both? Her coffee was cold, but she drank it anyway.

She leaned forward, tossed the cup in the garbage, and squared herself up at the computer. It felt good to flex her back a little; she no longer felt like she had an iron rod up her backside, and it didn't hurt constantly and send random shooters of pain through her body. It was probably a good idea to have the thing out of her, too. She'd carefully taken all of the components to the old system and put them somewhere safe, in case they had a tracking device or a bomb built into them.

There were still files in the system from the original Eva tests. She could start there; see if there were any details about Ikari's death. As she waited for them to load, she fiddled with the repulsor emitter she'd made. They were common tech, now, even the Evas used them, but not as weapons. She'd fitted the small one she made into a glove, with a palm-sized emitter. She'd fit it into the actual armor later, but now she needed to get it wired up and ready to attach to her back to test. Smirking, she thought about building an adapter so she could charge her cell phone from her backside, too.

Maya came in, and she tucked the repulsor into a drawer and shoved it closed, and crossed her legs. Maya had bags of food and fresh coffee.

"What's that?" said Ritsuko.

"I went to the food court. Do you like donuts?"

"Yes," said Ritsuko, snatching one of the bags. She peered inside. "How did you know I like apple glazed with sprinkles?"

Maya shrugged and smiled secretly. "What are you working on?"

"I'm going over the armor retrofits on Unit One," Ritsuko lied, "For the repair. I think I can make some upgrades to the design, and this is a good time to test them out. Is Unit Zero back in the cage yet?"

Maya nodded.

"When is the girl's funeral?"

Maya blinked. "Oh. You mean Rei. I don't know. I haven't heard anything."

Ritsuko sighed. "We put that kid in that thing and she gets killed on her first mission, and…"

She blinked. "Wait," she said, and closed opened a new window. She pulled up the files on the first battle. Rei wasn't listed as killed in action, or missing, she was listed as "wounded" and in the infirmary.

"She's not dead," said Ritsuko.

"That can't be," said Maya. "I was monitoring her vitals. She flatlined. I never saw a blip after that."

Ritsuko nodded slowly, and then closed out the window. "I'll swing by the infirmary and check on her. Somebody should visit her, she saved our lives, her and the Commander's boy."

Sighing, she glanced at the screen, then sat up. The test data for Unit One only went back to Shinji's first test, when he came back from Latveria. To anyone else, the files would simply be absent, but Ritsuko had root access. She typed in a few commands, and the remnants of the old directories appeared, the digital footprint of the space they once occupied on the drivers. It was mostly a mess of gibberish, garbled junk data and hash signs, but that wasn't why she was looking. Every action in the MAGI's archives were clearly marked with the user's login details.

She took the donut out of her mouth and put it down, trying not to look startled. Maya was going over the repair orders for the Eva, and wasn't paying attention.

The data on Yui Ikari's test, or tests, had been deleted by Natalie Summers. Had she tampered with the other records? Closing the Unit One files, she opened the data for Unit Zero. _Everything_ up until the last sortie had been deleted, again by Summers. What was she doing?

* * *

When lunch came, Hikari felt bad about ditching Kaworu, who clung to her all morning, but at least she was in good hands. Sort of. Hikari introduced her more properly to Toji and Kensuke and asked them to keep an eye on her. Some part of Hikari's brain thought that was the equivalent of jumping out of the frying pan and into the perverts, or something, but the boys weren't bad people, and their presence would make it less likely that someone would pick a fight with the poor girl. She blew out a breath and waited. On the roof of the school, there was some privacy from the shark-infested waters of the cafeteria and the school grounds. Hikari had a feeling that the locked door wouldn't both Shinji. It hadn't bothered her. She climbed out of a bathroom on the fourth floor and up onto the roof, and waited there.

She nearly started to leave when she heard the door at the end of the roof unlatch. It swung open and Shinji walked through it, the door moving on its own, his hand a few inches away from the knob. It was eerie to watch, but Hikari said nothing. She walked up to him and looked him up and down, and as the door clapped shut, she put her hand on the bandage on his cheek. She expected him to slap it away, but he put his hand on the back of hers and rested it there for a second before gently pulling it away.

"What happened?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me. How did you get hurt?"

He sighed and sat down, leaning against the ledge at the edge of the roof. "In the battle."

"Oh my God," said Hikari. "You were outside? How did that happen?"

He shot her a weary look. "I wasn't outside, exactly. I'm the pilot of Eva Unit One."

Hikari stared at him as if he's just started speaking Martian, and plopped down beside him. "You're the what of what?"

"Father… Nerv sent Unit Zero out to fight the Angel and it was killing her. I couldn't just let her die, so I took Unit One and I attacked it."

He looked at his left hand. "It didn't go well."

Hikari bit her lip for a second. "That is so _brave,"_ she whispered. "How bad is it?"

"Cuts and bruises. I might have a scar on my cheek."

"Are you okay?"

He looked at her, and his lip trembled. "Nobody asked me that. Father yelled at me for risking myself, and that _woman_ was in my _house," _his voice cracked, "Nobody cares if I'm okay. They're mad at me for risking myself, but it doesn't have anything to do with _me._ I… I…"

Hikari touched his shoulder. "It's okay."

"It's not okay!" he shouted, shrugging from her touch. "The other pilot, she's… she's in the hospital, and she might not come out. She might _die_. I sat and watched and when I did something about it, I fouled up so badly I almost got killed, too. Suzahara's sister is in the hospital, I heard people talking about their families. People _died." _

He plunged his face into his hands, shuddering, and choked back a sob. "Why? Why did he do it?"

Hikari put her arms around him and pulled him to her. He struggled a bit, but settled against her side. "Do what?"

"There's a woman from work," said Shinji. "My father is _fucking_ her. She was in my house! My mother's house! _He promised!"_

She tightened her embrace as he began to sob openly, shaking against her.

"Hey," she murmured, "It's okay."

"I can't do this," he said, pulling away. "I can't, I… it just makes it worse."

"What?"

He shook his head. "I want to be your friend, Hikari, but I can't get too involved. I shouldn't do this. Maybe we can eat lunch, tomorrow. In the cafeteria."

He stood up, and headed for the door. Hikari jumped to her feet, gaping. She clenched her teeth, a hundred emotions rippling through her at once. Boys were so _stupid_. It wasn't his fault. Everyone around him was a freak, how was he supposed to act? He was about to reach for the doorknob when she threw her hand out, folded in her middle fingers and _thwip!_

He stumbled, dragged backwards by the silvery line of web stuck to his backside. Hikari grabbed it, yanked, and stepped into it. Eyes wide, he spun around, yelping in shock, and she threw her arms around him. He stared at her, wide-eyed, his mask shattered, and before he had time to react or protest or struggle she closed off his protests with her lips.

For a moment, they stood on the roof in the sunlight, Shinji standing with his arms at his side, frozen in place as Hikari pressed herself against him, touching her lips to his. Then, he blinked, and his eyes drifted closed. He put his arms around her neck and shoulders and turned, and crossed that secret divide between there mere touching of lips and a kiss, and he was pushing her against the wall next to the door, and she was holding him tightly, and finally she had to breathe and pulled back.

"I don't want to be friends," she said, softly. She touched his cheek, drawing her fingers down from just under his eye to his jaw.

"I don't either, but I-"

"Shinji," She said, very softly, "Did you ever think that maybe you _shouldn't _marry Asuka?"

"All the time," he said, pulling back, "but…"

"I know," said Hikari, "I know the consequences if you anger her father."

"No, you don't," said Shinji. "You've never met him. I _met_ him, Hikari. I've been to Castle von Doom."

"You can stand up to him," said Hikari.

"No, I can't," said Shinji. "That's crazy. You can't… things are the way they are, and no one is going to change them. I have to trust my father. He knows what he's doing."

"I know what he's doing," said Hikari. "He's using his son as a bargaining chip in international politics. Do you think he cares about your happiness?"

"I… of course he does," said Shinji. "Why… he…"

Shinji hugged himself, and stepped away from her. "I don't know. I can't make sense of any of this."

"Shinji," said Hikari. "Shinji, please listen to me. There has to be a way."

"I know Asuka isn't in love with me," said Shinji. "I've made my peace with it. I have an obligation. Father says in time, we could-"

"Oh bull_shit,"_ said Hikari.

"Hikari," said Shinji. "I like you. I like you a lot. I can't do this to you. I don't think you understand the consequences, no matter what you say."

"Shinji, they won't hurt you-"

"That's just it," said Shinji. "It's not just me. It's you. What if Doom, or my father, came after you? Are you willing to take that risk?"

"Yes," said Hikari.

"What about your family?"

Hikari frowned. "I-"

"They'll know," Shinji said, quietly. "My father probably knows already. If he doesn't, there are others who are watching me, tracking my movements. Even this school is guarded, Hikari."

"Shinji," said Hikari. "Are you seriously saying 'we can't be together because my enemies will use you against me'?"

"Well, yes."

She snorted. "I can handle myself."

"Your family-"

"If it came to that," said Hikari, stepping up to him, "would you do something about it? With your powers? Even if it meant going up against your Father, or Doom? If you had a chance, would you stand aside and let that thing kill the other pilot?"

"No," he whispered.

"That's why, I um," she rubbed her arms, "I want to be your girlfriend, and stuff."

Shinji smirked and rubbed his hand through his hair. "It's just… I spent my whole life wanting to be like him. I'm promised to somebody, and I'd be betraying her…"

"Talk to her," said Hikari. "Have you ever talked to her? Really talked? Asked her straight out what she wants?"

"Uh," said Shinji. "No."

"Why not?"

"She's… a girl, and… stuff."

Hikari crossed hear arms, and lifted an eyebrow.

"I guess I could, but, then she'd, I mean, wouldn't she figure out that…"

"Hey," said Hikari. "Did she ever ask you if you're okay?"

His eyes widened, and he blinked, and looked down at the ground. "No," he said, softly. "No, she didn't."

"Would you cry on her shoulder about your dad?"

"I wasn't crying!"

Hikari sighed. "You know what I mean."

He looked confused. Hikari wanted to touch him, to hug him and feel his heartbeat against her chest again, but she stopped.

"This has to be your choice, Shinji," said Hikari. "You have to tell me. As for your enemies, or whatever…"

She pulled the doorknob out of the reinforced steel door, held it in her hand, and squeezed. The metal folded around her fingers, a mostly solid lump of cast steel squashing like so much clay. She tossed it to him, and it stopped in midair, unfolded, and slid back into the door. He hooked his finger at it, and the door swung open. Hikari stepped inside, leaving him to his thoughts.

* * *

Toji was exhausted as the school day drew to a close. Having lunch with that weird Kaworu girl was… odd. Normally he'd have been all over her with his amazingly smooth ways, teaching Kensuke the ways of manhood through example, but pretty as she was, he just didn't feel up to it, between his sister and the problem of what to do about Rei. As he headed out of the building, he deliberately avoided Kensuke and everybody else he knew, and hooked away from the other students as fast as he could, and jumped on the train. All the way home, he thought about his sister lying in the bed.

He wanted to throttle Ikari, until he saw the look on his face. He was the pilot of the robot, or so Toji had heard, but Rei was a pilot, too, and he didn't want to hurt her. It didn't seem fair. From the bandages, the kid had gotten hurt in the fight. It dawned on Toji that hurting him more wouldn't bring Sakura back out of the bed, wouldn't put her in her room to smile and fight him for the bathroom in the morning, or play video games with him after their homework was done. He tugged sharply on the straps of his bag as the train pulled up to his stop and stepped off, sighing.

As he walked up the front steps, he heard voices, and cautiously opened the door. The television was on, bathing the living room in pale, flashing light. The curtains were all drawn. Toji glanced at the kitchen. The knife block on the counter next to the stove had been turned over, and the knives spilled out. He lowered his back to the floor and moved cautiously into the house, looking around. A board creaked under his foot, and Rei came bolting out of the living room and plunged a knife into his chest.

He looked at her, and looked down. She goggled at him, big red eyes quivering with confusion and fear, and she looked down at the point of the knife. Toji braced himself, figuring it'd be like a cartoon. When he saw the knife, he'd be aware that it was rammed into his lungs and he'd collapse, except the knife had carved a nice neat line down his chest, but his skin was unbroken. Gently, he peeled the knife out of her hand.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"The man with the hockey mask," said Rei, on the verge of tears. "I thought you were him."

Toji blinked. "What?"

"On the screen," said Rei. "He's outside. You must lock the door."

Toji blinked, realized he was holding the knife _by the blade_, and reached back to lock the door anyway. Rei took his hand and pulled him into the living room, peering around the wall at the television, and pressed up against him, shaking. Toji instinctively put an arm around her, and his jaw dropped when he saw the screen. It was Friday the 13th movie, playing on one of the repeat channels, with a bad dub. Toji looked from the TV, to her, to the TV, and pulled his arm away from her, coughing.

"It's not real, Rei," said Toji.

"It's not?" said Rei, scrunching her eyebrows. "I do not understand. Are the pictures of the city also not real?"

Toji picked the remote up from the floor and clicked through the channels. "You mean the news?"

She looked at him blankly.

"Rei, some of the stuff on the TV isn't real. It's movies and TV shows. The news is real, the rest isn't."

"I don't understand. What is a movie?"

His jaw dropped. "Rei, will you sit down on the couch?"

Rei nodded and sat down, drawing her legs up to her chest, and he sat down next to her. He tossed the knife on the floor with a thump.

"Rei, it's fiction, okay? It's not real. There is no hockey mask man, he won't hurt you."

"If it is not true, why is there a recording of it?"

"Um," said Toji, scratching his head, even though it wasn't itchy. "People watch it because they like to be scared. They pretend the hockey mask man is real, but they know he's not."

Rei looked at him as if he'd suddenly started barking at her in Mandarin, but after a moment she nodded. She wasn't dumb, she'd just never heard of it before.

"Rei, how do you not know what a movie is? You've never been to the movies?"

"What is that?"

"It's like a TV, but really big and everybody smells bad."

She shook her head. "I have never watched a TV before."

"What, did they keep you in a box?"

"No, a tank," said Rei. "I am kept in suspension when I am not piloting. This is the longest I have ever been awake."

Toji bent down and picked up the knife. "I'll be right back."

Rei remained huddled on the couch and headed into the kitchen, breathing hard. She made it sound like she was some kind of science experiment. Who could do that to a pretty girl?

Wait, what?

He righted the knife block and slid the knives back in. It was a good thing Dad hadn't been walking in the door. He sighed and was about to slide the last knife in when it stuck in the slot, and wouldn't sink in. He gave it a few shoves to push it in, and then drew back. The tip was bent in a neat curl, as if it had struck a hard surface and…

He looked down at his shirt. He set the knife aside, pulled out another one, and looked at the edge. Slowly, wincing, he touched it to his thumb, and pulled. He could feel that it was sharp, but there was no blood, not even a faint mark. Shaking, he started to saw at his hand, working the blade back and forth until it dulled, and dropped it on the counter. What was happening?

"Toji?" said Rei, her soft voice coming from the living room. "Toji, will you come back?"

* * *

Ritsuko looked around, made sure the lab was locked, and started thinking. The testing lab for the knee joints was a monument to the nearly criminal inefficiency of Nerv and its branch organizations. "An empty lab" probably conjured images of a room with a few tables and some sinks, but this lab was where a joint in the Eva's armor was designed and tested, so it was rigged with a miniature assembly line, a sort of highly advanced 3-D printed, and a MAGI terminal, of course. Ritsuko had uploaded some data from the Iron Man suit itself, which currently lay in its disassembled state on a table. It was an enormous risk bringing it here, and it took five trips in her new hatchback, but she'd done it. There were a number of things she needed to work on.

She picked up the chest assembly and moved it aside. Besides not fitting her properly, it was designed to work with an arc reactor, and the crude work around she devised to shove an S2 Engine into it was no longer required. She'd updated the containment system before jamming it into her back, of course, and the updated code in the onboard computer would keep it from overloading and exploding, but she needed to rework the armor to cooperate with it. In effect, she was going to modify it so that the power supply and the internal computer and other components were in the back, not the front, which would just be a set of articulated plates under her design. If anything, her suit was coming around to being an Eva with some elements from Stark's designs copied over, rather than the other way around.

Using the emitters built into the suit as a base, she'd reworked the repulsor field system in her suit design to be a bit more efficient- Starks' later suits could shrug off virtually anything, and while hers wouldn't be quite that good, it was a start, more than she was likely to need.

At present, she was sitting at the table, fitting together the boots. She could only use a few parts from the original suit, but then, she didn't really need to. The CAD program was already running the fabricator, and the first pieces were up to spec. She waited for each to roll down the line and cool, and fitted it into the boot. When it was ready, she slipped her foot into it. It looked bulky until she put her foot down, when it neatly scissored closed around her leg, and she stood up. She had to drag it and articulate the joint by main force, but it all fit together. Once she had the servos in place, she could wire it up to the Engine and test it out.

That was the problem. She could cannibalize the repulsors in her stolen suit, but she had to source the servos from elsewhere. Few from the Eva project were small enough, mostly from the finger joints. The Evas looked monolithic but were actually made of many thousands of tiny components, some twelve thousand exterior armor plates alone. She had a box of bits on the table, an extra delivered with the shipments of parts that came in for the repairs to the damaged Evas. Being the head of the project had its perks.

"The main issue," she said aloud, "Is how I'm going to get it on."

Stark's suits could be compact enough to fit inside a briefcase, although the one she'd liberated wasn't of that compact design, it didn't require a gantry system to put on, but it did need support, and she could hardly drag it around with her. If she could make it all collapse down, it would be possible, but she'd still need to have it handy in an emergency, if it was to be of any use. She forced the boot open with a screwdriver and put it on the table, and readied to shut down the production line when the next part rolled out, frowning.

All of this was almost a distraction from the real problem. She was going to have to find out what Summers was up to, and what the hell was going on in that lab of hers. She locked the lab behind her and headed down a side corridor the main lab, emerging not far from her office. Maya was working on something with a pencil held in her lips, leaning forward intently. She pulled the writing implement out of her mouth.

"That plugsuit you ordered came in," said Maya. "I put it on your chair."

Ritsuko nodded, finding the shrink-wrapped package on her seat. She set aside and sat down, opening up her terminal. She had an actual job to do, at some point.

"What's that for, anyway?" said Maya.

"What?"

"The plugsuit," said Maya. "What did you need one for?"

Ritsuko sighed. She couldn't give her the real reason, that it was to wear under her self-powered force field generating combat armor.

"I think I'd look good in skin-tight latex."

Maya nearly fell out of her chair.

"All too easy," said Ritsuko.

* * *

Asuka brooded. Or rather, she tried to brood. She sat on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, and touched the back of her head to the cold concrete block wall. She hated living in this cracker box, this insult to her station. She wanted to hate her father for sending her, but the hate would not come. Part of it was the knowledge that she could never hide it from Doom. Part of it was that she knew there was some purpose in her cordial exile, whatever it may be, even if it wasn't piloting Unit Two, since she hadn't even been asked. Part of it was that if she had not been sent here, she would never have met Mari, who was at present lying on the bed with her, a book propped on her chest.

"You're sulking," said Mari.

"I am not," said Asuka.

"If you don't stop sulking, we'll have to play the tickle game."

Asuka looked at her flatly, and then relaxed, which meant she had to drape her legs over Mari's. She kept her arms folded, though.

"The Horaki girl," said Asuka.

"What about her," said Mari.

"She… irritates me."

"I'd gathered that, yes."

"There's more to it than that. Her performance this morning, her boldness. I find it more difficult to hate her with every passing day. I wonder if we could have been friends, in some other life."

"Why can't you be friends in this one?"

"The heir to the throne of Doom has no friends," said Asuka, "and she has designs on my betrothed."

"This again," Mari sighed, and sat up. She ran her fingers through the loose locks of hair hanging over Asuka's shoulder, lifted a twisted lock, and sniffed it. "Why are you so worried about it?"

"I have my orders," said Asuka. "We've been through this. I am not my own property. I belong to my people and my legacy."

"You've been reading _The Wheel of Time _too much," said Mari.

Asuka sniffed. "A shame he only managed to finish eight books before Second Impact. I would liked to have read the conclusion."

Mari turned and shifted to sit on the bed next to her, leaning on the wall by her side, and rested her head on Asuka's shoulder. Asuka would have shrugged her off once, but now, she remained still, though tensed. Mari took her hand and squeezed it.

"What is this?" said Asuka.

"What?" said Mari.

Asuka looked at her. "This. My life. I was sent to be a pilot, and yet I, the sire of _Doom_, must sit idly while that pompous Commander's son proves himself in battle. I am bound to marry a man, a _boy_, for whom I feel no love. I have… you. I don't understand anything."

"Feelings, huh," Mari murmured, snuggling closer to her. "Oh, we have feelings, now."

Asuka scowled. "Don't toy with me."

"Oh please, princess, toying with you is half the fun."

Asuka grinned in spite of herself and turned away. Mari took her chin in her fingers and turned her back.

"Why don't you let him go?"

"I cannot. The will of Doom-"

"Stop saying Doom," said Mari. "Everything with you is Doom, Doom, Doom. It's like you're a drum. Just quit it."

"I have certain things I have to do."

She jumped to her feet. "This conversation is going in circles."

Mari sighed. "How do you _really_ feel about him?"

"I… I am fond of him, in spite of his buffoonery," said Asuka, "but I… I feel we would make better siblings than lovers."

"Is there really anything wrong with him liking someone else, then? I mean, it's not like they're getting married. If he wants to go out on a date, let him. Knowing him, he'd stare at his feet the whole time and make an ass out of himself trying to look smooth. He even wears his jacket like his Dad."

Asuka frowned and sank back down on the bed. "I could, but I can't release him from the marriage pact. He could never be with her, or with anyone else."

"That's not stopping you," said Mari.

Asuka looked at her. "I… I could never, not formally. You know that. The law is the law."

"Great, now you're Judge Dredd," said Mari, rolling back onto her back. "You can change the law, can't you? When you're Queen?"

"I can," said Asuka, "but I must have heirs."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," said Mari, "but there are ways to handle that."

"I should not be entertaining these thoughts," said Asuka.

Mari rolled her eyes. "What thoughts should you entertain, then?"

"The next battle," said Asuka. "I must pilot. It is why I am here. I have trained my entire life for it."

* * *

Shinji didn't go home when the school day ended. He wasn't sure why. He usually took the train, but let it pass, watching, perhaps, for a glimpse of Hikari. He didn't see her, and wondered, briefly, where she was. He hunched his shoulders, and tried to make himself small as he walked with the other students, those who traveled by foot. Making sure Mari and Asuka weren't around to see him, he ducked down an alley and passed through to the street on the other side, brooding.

Hikari asked him how he was. Three little words, and nobody, not his father, not the girl he was supposed to _marry_, had even asked him. The idea of someone taking an interest in him because they _liked_ him was so new he had no idea how to deal with it. The worst part was, she was right. He would defend Rei again, and he wouldn't let anything happen to Hikari. That scared him. He'd been drilled since he first manifested his powers, so long ago he only dimly remembered it, that he must never use them outside of very strict, controlled circumstances, and he must under no circumstances become some kind of vigilante. Not even he was above that law. His father had made that crystal clear.

He thought about Asuka. She wasn't a bad person, no matter how she seemed to everyone else. They didn't know that she cried in her sleep, that she missed her mother, that she liked ginger ice cream and read romance novels. Then again, she'd never _shared_ these things with him, he learned it by osmosis, always kept at a kind of respectful distance. He had no idea how much she knew about him. Did she know that he dreamed of flying, that he was sick with longing for his lost mother? Would she care that he was sick to his stomach thinking of that Summers woman in his house, in his mother's bed? Would she care at all? Did she even _want_ to marry him, or was she just defending her territory?

Tugging on the straps of his backpack, he turned in no particular direction and walked, watching people go by. Their lives seemed so simple. Office jobs and apartments and no giant robots or strange red-eyed women or complicated girls. He snorted; everybody had that last problem, but his situation seemed a bit more complicated. Usually a guy had to worry about angering his girlfriend's parents, not someone else's, and they weren't Doctor Doom. Thinking of the towering giant in armor made him queasy. The things the man could do… Shinji was powerless against his armor for all it _looked_ like metal, and there were places in the castle with strange smells, where he heard voices. People said he could do magic, that he had a time machine.

He was powerful, wasn't he?

There was the elephant in the room. Mother. Father said they could have her back. He _promised_. He said the Evas were the key. Not how, or why, only that Unit One had to survive the war with the Angels, and at the end, she could come back. Shinji had always believed it. Since the day she went to work and never came back, there was a hollow in him, a place he couldn't fill no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't with father, or with Asuka.

Hikari was different. She didn't make it go away, she just made him forget about it. Ever since he saw her on the train platform, he had a feeling about her, almost like they were supposed to meet. He thought about the day of the attack, sitting with her in the restaurant. It just felt so _natural_. He flexed and unflexed his left hand.

After a while, he pulled out his phone, and called for a car to take him home.

* * *

Kaji leaned against the seat of his bike, and waited. The students filed out of the school in his absurd uniform, paying him no mind. He waited until he became edgy, pulled out a cigarette, and let it hang from his mouth without lighting it. Eventually, he'd throw it away without actually smoking it. He went through perhaps a pack a week this way. It was a strange vice, but all told no worse than actually lighting the damned things. He pushed his sunglasses up his nose and watched.

Misato came primly out of the school, dressed in so much professional clothing that any fool could see she was trying to hide her assets, and failing. Kaji stood up and headed for her, glancing both ways as he crossed the street, danced across the sidewalk, and walked across the parking lot, flashing his trademark grin. Misato saw him, walked towards her car, and then nearly tripped as the recognition dawned on her.

"What are you doing here?"

Not the reaction he expected, but then, they never were. She scowled, folding her arms under her wonderful bust, and he grinned all the wider.

"Katsuragi. Funny I would run into you here."

"Outside where I work," she snapped, glancing at the building. "We're on camera."

"Katsuragi, you wound me," said Kaji, touching his chest. "I just wanted to say hi."

"You've said it, Kaji. Now get away from me."

He sighed. "I know I hurt you-"

"Hurt me? Hurt me? We were _engaged_, you prick. You just left, without a word. I bought a wedding dress!"

"I had to leave. Something came up."

"Something like what?" Misato snapped, pointing her finger at him as if it were a weapon. "Something more important than me?"

"I just didn't want you to get hurt. I got involved in something I shouldn't have. I just didn't want to be in town without saying something."

"What's going on here?"

Kaji whirled. He hadn't heard the man approach, which was odd in itself. He was of a height with Kaji, European of some indistinct ethnicity, a little on the thin side, but he carried himself like he knew how to fight. He stood with his hands in the pocket of his trousers and a tweed jacket over his arm, in a made that made him look casual, but would allow him to spring quickly.

"Misato my dear, is this man bothering you?"

_My dear?_

"He's my ex boyfriend," said Misato. She smiled at the stranger, a real thousand watt smile, the kind that made Kaji completely willing to fail a test to spend a week with her. "He's just leaving."

"Ah," the stranger said. He offered a hand. "Lawson. Erik Lawson."

Kaji traded grips with him. He was stronger than he looked, and he wanted Kaji to know it.

"Why don't you run along, Miss Katsuragi. I'll call you later."

Misato blinked, smiled, and dipped into her car. It started up and pulled out, and she pulled into traffic and sped off, leaving the two of them eyeing each other.

"Call her?" said Kaji.

"Quite. She and I had a dinner engagement on Saturday and, well, you can guess how that went, can't you?"

Kaji eyed him. "Look, pal, I-"

Lawson stepped up to him, clamped his hand on Kaji's throat and lifted him from the ground as easily as if he were a child.

"I'll say this once. Stay away from this school, and from her. Do you understand?"

He tilted his head, and peered at Kaji as if he were a particularly irritating insect. "Curious. You're more than you appear to be. We have a passenger, it seems."

He let go, and Kaji stumbled, clutching his throat. Lawson turned to go.

"You're not human, are you?" Kaji rasped.

Lawson stopped and peered over his shoulder, grinning wickedly, amused at some secret joke.

"Of _course_ I am."

* * *

Sakura Suzahara awoke, as if from a dream, but the place she was could only a dream be. She stood on the Yellow Brick road, and it went on forever through white space, forward and back, branching here and there. On her shoulders settled the dim feeling of being watched, and she walked forward, clutching her arms. She realized she was wearing a sailor fuku, the kind she wore at the old middle school, and had a ribbon in her hair. The last thing she remembered was something falling towards her, and towards Toji. She wanted to see him, and she wanted to go home.

Somehow, she knew she had to walk forward for that. So she did. The stones clap-clapped under her feet, echoing off of nothing as she walked. All around her she saw the strange shapes of something she couldn't make out, like trying look through very powerful glasses that belonged to someone else. She kept on walking until she saw where the road led, to a garden. She heard something then, a gentle laugh, and felt a warm breeze and a soft touch on her face, something half remembered and familiar.

"I promise, Mommy," Toji's voice said, very seriously. "Always to take care of her."

She shuddered, remembering. Hospitals. She hated hospitals; they were full of pain and death. She kept walking until she passed under an arch, and found herself in a florid garden, full of buzzing bumblebees and flowers that went on forever, like God had spilled all his paint on the world. She hoped for a moment that she would find her mother waiting there. Maybe this was Heaven, and when Toji came he wouldn't have to worry about his promise because she would always be safe. She hoped that was true.

There was a man floating in the middle of the garden, his legs folded under him, hands resting on his knees. He murmured softly to himself until she approached, then simply lowered his legs and turned around. He was old, his hair all white and his skin wrinkled and wizened, and a long beard hung down, snow white over his dark silken robes. He stepped forward, smiling eyes fixed on her.

"I've been waiting for you."

"Who are you?" said Sakura. "What is this place?"

"This is the astral plane," the old man said, "and my name was Stephen."

"Was?" said Sakura.

"It was, but is no longer, as was written. I held too long what was to be mine for a time, and can wait no more. A battle is coming, and you will be at the center of it. When I was the student, my master was simply the Ancient One. Now I am the Ancient One, and you are the student, and you must learn quickly, for the cloak and book and amulet are to be yours, as fate demands."

Sakura fidgeted on her feet. "The what?"

"Sakura Suzahara," said the Ancient One, "You will be the Earth's champion. Her Sorceress Supreme."


	7. Driving With the Top Down

_Previously on… _

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_Frustrated with him, Hikari laid it all on the line with Shinji, firmly putting the ball in his court. Confused, Shinji considered her words, weighing his feelings for her against his obligations to his father and the promise of reunion with his mother- however that was to be achieved. _

_Asuka and Hikari fought in the hallway at school- sort of. Impressed by Hikari's surprising skill, reflexes and speed, Asuka began to wonder if the girl was as worthless and annoying as she appeared to be. _

_Frightened by her lack of understanding of the television set, Rei stabbed Toji as he returned home, only for him to discover that the knife could not harm him. _

_Meanwhile, Sakura Suzahara found herself in a strange dreamscape, speaking to an old man who claimed she would be the next Sorceress Supreme…_

* * *

"**DRIVING WITH THE TOP DOWN"**

* * *

"This is crazy," said Hikari, "this is literally insane."

She was sitting, sort of -she had her feet stuck to the wall, and was crouched against it- on the side of her apartment complex, pressed against the bricks. She had on a pair of tights, a pair of tabi boots with the thinnest soles she could find, her white spider sweatshirt, and pair of goggles with orange reflective lenses that covered up her eyes. She'd bound her hair back and pulled the hood up, and put on a pair of very thin gloves, with a bit of the palm cut away and roughly sewn up; she had to do it by hand.

Slowly, she made her way to the edge of the building, as if someone would see her, reached out, and fired a web. She pulled it tight, took a deep breath, and let go. The swing carried her out, and when she hit the bottom of the arc she shot another web, and soon she was lazily sweeping from building to building, kicking her feet out as she bottomed out to give herself a little more distance. She had no real idea where she was going or what she was going to _do. _The sweatshirt was a good idea; it was cold up here, especially when she started to pick up speed and the wind whipped around her. After a while, she swung up and pulled in her legs, spun, and landed on the edge of a roof, still a bit unnerved by the lack of vertigo as she hung by her feet, looking down at the street and sidewalk below. She perched against the wall, and caught her breath.

Across the street, there was a bank, with an ATM on the sidewalk. A young woman walked up to it, and as she did, a knot of three men standing further down the street shifted, glancing at her. Hikari felt a little tingle at the back of her head, and tensed. The three started walking towards the woman, and she saw a flash of light. One of them had a knife, and the other three were pulling weapons out from under their clothes. Hikari jumped, sailing over the street, stuck a wall, and then dropped between the thugs and the woman at the ATM.

"Hi, guys," she said, glancing at their knives. "I would have gone with flowers."

Hikari's palms were sweating a little. There were three of them, and they were armed.

The closest of the three men shifted on his feet a bit, as if considering, and lunged at her. She moved on pure instinct, twisting out of the way of a jab from his knife, heart hammering in her chest. He shoulder-checked at her but she was already out of the way, but now stumbling towards the staring woman at the ATM. Hikari threw her hand out and webbed his ankles and pulled, dragging his feet out from under him. A twisting buzz in her head made her move and she ducked out of the way of a swinging tire-iron that would have gone through her skull if she hadn't moved. She grabbed it, squeezing so hard it made a tiny creaking sound and twisted in her hand, and shoved it away.

The second thug grabbed at her and somehow managed to get his arms around her waist. Hikari yelped in alarm, grabbed his arms and pried them apart. She winced as she felt bones grinding under her fingers and let go, at the same time lashing out with her foot. She put her heel in his gut and felt the wind go out of him and he rolled onto his side, harshly gasping for air and screaming. The third one pulled out a gun and aimed it at her.

The buzz in her head turned into a scream. Time slowed and she vaulted forward, landed on her hands and twisted, legs apart, slapping the gun away with one foot while planting the other in his face, her toes curled back. She heard the gun go off, an angry snap stretched out into a grinding sound over perilous seconds, and felt the crunch of bone beneath the ball of her foot as she took the man in the jaw. She cartwheeled to the side, clung to the wall, and turned. Quickly, she webbed the other two men to the ground and leapt, landed on her hands, and then sprung back onto her feet. The one with the gun was down, clutching his jaw and broken nose, blood pouring over his hands, and Hikari felt a sudden pang of guilt. She could have fractured his skull.

The woman at the ATM was staring at her, one shaking hand clutching a sheaf of bills. In the other, she had a cell phone, and the camera was pointed at Hikari.

"Who are you?"

She felt a buzz in her head, and glanced over her shoulder. There were other people on the street, half a dozen that had emerged from the offices and shops all around her, staring, and they all had phones out, too. She heard sirens in the distance.

"I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Girl."

She took a running start, jumped, jumped again, and swung, her stomach lurching as the ground see-sawed under her. She turned a corner and then another and pulled herself up onto a roof and pushed her goggles up, panting for breath, trying to quell the twisting in her stomach. Her hands were shaking and her undershirt was soaked with sweat. Someone had _shot at her_. She was laughing and there were tears running down her cheeks, and finally she caught her breath and closed her eyes, scrubbing her cheeks clean, and managed to calm down enough to sit on the ledge of a roof and stare off into space, watching a police car with its spinning lights take a hard turn around the corner to where she'd just been.

After a while, she stood up. She could swing around a bit more, but she had to get home.

She still had homework to do.

* * *

Gendo walked into his house, and hung his hat and coat on the hook by the door, and slipped out of his shoes. Some distant part of him knew this was a dream, and knew that Yui was not really in the kitchen and not really making dinner and helping Shinji with his homework, but it was a pleasant dream and he had few enough of those. She was as he remembered her, standing over a bubbling pot of something on the stove while Shinji chewed his lip and stared at some complex math problem. In life, she would have been microwaving something for them to eat, if she was home at all, but in the world of dreams things were as he would have them, not as they were, and she wore a loose but sheer sun dress that would have been almost transparent when she stood in front of a sunny window, and a half apron that was loosely tied around her waist, and she wasn't wearing a bra. This would be a pleasant dream, he was sure.

When he announced his arrival and stepped into the kitchen she lit up, her eyes shining as they fell on him, and then her beautiful face twisted into a look of horror as something brushed past him, pushing him into the wall. It was tall but hunched, with mottled green skin and a mad, grinning face and long, hooked fingers that reached out to grab Yui and drag her away, closing tight around her throat, and she was screaming and Shinji was crying and it was no longer Yui's face he saw, it was a pleading woman he didn't recognize, screaming it wasn't her fault and there was laughing, laughing, laughing and he still heard it when he woke up.

He sat bolt upright, strangling a cry in his throat, and looked around. He was soaked in a cold sweat and breathing hard, the room suddenly cold. Summers sat up beside him, clutching the sheets to her chest.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer her. He got up and looked around. The closet door was ajar. He slid it aside and pushed around in his clothes, sliding the hangers across the pole with a dull scrape, and then ducked down. The foot locker was still there, and still locked. It wasn't out. He could keep it in, control it, as he had ever since the night Toshiro died. Summers came up behind him, pulling on a loose robe, and knelt beside him.

"Look at you," she murmured.

He started to bat her hand away but when her fingers touched his scalp he felt the tension slide out of him. His heart slowed and his breathing eased, and he suddenly felt very silly for getting worked up about such a simple nightmare. He could barely recall the details, now. He pushed his rack of suit coats into something resembling order and stood up. Summers pressed against him, her cool, soft skin against his back, and he felt just fine.

"Wait," he said, dully, "What are you doing here?"

She ran her fingers over his chin. "We had dinner, and you asked me to stay."

Everything she said made so much sense.

"You had a bad dream, but it's alright. I'll protect you. My love."

"My love," he repeated, dully. "Yes."

"You need to rest."

"I need to rest."

"You need to lay with me."

"I need to lie with you."

She smirked.

"Come to bed."

"Let's go to bed."

He turned, his dream forgotten, and settled into the bed with her. She pulled his head to her chest and ran her fingers through his hair, smiling secretly to herself.

* * *

Ritsuko pulled off the road and looked around, then turned down a dirt path. She'd chosen this spot on the satellite map, far from the prying eyes of the city security system. Her little hatchback, on which she had not yet made the first freaking payment, jounced and bounced and swayed from side to side, the shocks creaking from the weight she'd loaded into it. She couldn't see through the back window, over the cloth covered, boxy shape that rested on the folded-down seats. She was going to _have _to get it smaller, somehow. She could barely get it in the car herself, and driving around with it was not an option. She pulled off in a cloud of dust and took another look around, just to be sure she was alone, then hopped out and opened the rear hatch.

When she pulled the tarp away, the suit looked like nothing so much as a slightly oversized footlocker made of matte black metal plating. She'd add an outer layer later, when she could work up some of the laser scattering paint used on the Evas. Right now, she manhandled it out of the back of the car, gently lowering one side, and then the other. She shrugged out of her shirt and slipped out of her sweat pants, and stood in the modified plugsuit she'd made. It allowed her back augments direct access, integrating with it, and incorporated an athletic bra. She kept her arms bare, tightening the suit with a switch on her collar, rather than her wrist, so she could wear it under her clothes. If worse came to worse, it would look like black tights if she wore a skirt over it.

She took a breath and sighed, and reached back to brush a switch on her back. With a heavy _clank_, the folded suit popped into the loading configuration, and she turned around. She put her left heel into the fitted cup first, then her right, and felt a brief moment of vertigo as she fell backwards, but the center section of the suit popped up and grabbed her, locking around her waist with a kind of belt as the leg sections snapped up and closed around her thighs and calves. She leaned forward again, holding her arms out, as the suit rose up on the now powered legs and closed around her, first the chest section, which swung around in pieces from the heavy backpack that layered over her spine, and the arms dropped down beside her. As she slipped into the "sleeves" and pushed her hands home into the gloves, a sheet of plugsuit material in each linked up with the one she wore, forming full body coverage. The helmet tapped gently around the back of her head, the chin guard fell into place, and with a metallic clang, the visor dropped down.

Her redesigned HUD, using a variation of the Eva's systems, flashed in front of her eyes as the icons loaded. She'd improved on Stark's design and built in a voice activated MAGI uplink, so she could contact the base if she needed to. The suit supported her around the waist and shoulders, so that while she was protected by them, her feet didn't simply sit in the boots. She could rock them forward and back to hit switches and control the thrusters. Similarly, if she arched her fingers and pulled them back enough, she could lock the fingers on the gauntlets and activate switches inside, controlling the weapons system. Most of what she needed to do was accomplished by simply looking at an icon and deliberately blinking, as it tracked her eyes and adapted intelligently.

She took a step forward, wheeled her arms, and slammed into the ground. Dazed, she shook her head, accidentally grinding the face plate in the mud, and slowly, laboriously got up, careful not to hit any switches. She took another step, haltingly this time, letting the suit do some of the work as it adjusted to her movement. She took a few more steps, and sighed, then turned around.

"I look badass," she said to her reflection in the car window. Her voice came out of the suited as distorted and male. She'd set it up that way.

She was not going to build an Iron Man suit with boobs.

"Okay," she said. "I can walk. I could run some diagnostics, test the weapons systems, work on picking out some bugs. Or I could fly."

She considered that for a moment.

"Thrusters!"

When she said the word, the switches in the boots engaged, and she pushed her toes down. There was a momentary flash, the power levels on her HUD spiked, and suddenly her stomach was trying to carve a path out through her toes. She screamed as the suit blasted upwards, shaking and shivering around her, and her scream turned into a whoop of joy as she rolled over, but only for a moment. The world spun crazily and she saw trees rushing to meet her. She put her hands and fired her hand repulsors, using them to steer, weaving between the trees. When she aimed her hands down she rocketed back up, and realized she was still screaming.

"Give me air traffic control."

She had to rely on the city's radar system; she hadn't worked out how to fit one in the suit properly yet. It would take more work with Stark's gear. An overlay of flights appeared, and she angled away from them, head pounding from the roaring rush shaking her hands and feet as she speared up into the sky. She leaned back until she was rocketing straight up and pushed hard on the throttle.

It was time to try hovering. She spread her arms out and pushed her feet apart a bit, and eased off on the throttle. She began to sink, spinning wildly, struggling and shoving her hands this way and that, and after a while, she managed to hold somewhat steadily in the air, breathing hard. She shook her head, and realized there was a blinking warning on her HUD.

Because there was an airplane headed right for her.

Flight 2345 from Hakone Regional airport was headed straight at her. She kicked down hard on the throttle and swallowed against a dry throat as she rocketed up, glancing down at the airliner passing under her feet, and far below it, beneath a haze of atmosphere, the patchwork of the Earth, far distant.

"Let's see what this thing can do."

She looked straight up and opened the throttle up to max. Levels were good, she was barely using a fraction of the Solenoid's power. She picked up speed as the air thinned, and the sweat plastered against her skin suddenly went cold. She wasn't concerned about icing, since she'd taken care of that, but she was getting cold, and the atmosphere was visibly thinning. The sky went dark, stars peeking out from it, more stars than she had ever seen in her life. Her jaw dropped open, and she stared upwards as she slowed, easing off the throttle until she came to a rough hover, drifting a bit from side to side, and gaped up. It looked like there was more light than dark, a brilliant streak across the sky that spilled little lights everywhere.

Then, she looked down.

It was so _small_. She drifted a bit, staring down. She couldn't see any signs of civilization. The airplanes were gone, the city, even, was just a gray splotch in the world of grays and greens. It could have been painted, just brush strokes on a canvas.

She eased off the thrusters until she began to fall. She pitched forward, spreading her arms as she went into freefall, feeling the atmosphere building up against the front of the suit, shaking it, and laughing like a lunatic. She could _fly. _She could really fly. She could fly this thing. She glanced at the airspeed indicator; she was going too fast. She threw her legs forward and pushed out, hitting the thrusters, and started to slow. She took the long way down, moving in lazy circles, heading for the spot where she'd parked the car. The ground was getting bigger, and more detailed by the second. As she circled around, she watched the air traffic this time, avoiding any of the lanes. Finally she slowed enough to try to land, and realized she had no idea how. She hadn't landed last time so much as crashed and walked away from it.

Her feet, she needed to get her feet under her. She back off on the thrust and swung her legs down, using her hands to keep herself from plummeting into the ground. She came in slow, trying to land at a run, like a skydiver. Her feet slid in the grass, pulling up tufts of green, and she had to use her hand emitters to keep from falling over. Finally she stomped to a stop, twisting wildly until she managed to steady herself enough to let out a low, slow breath.

"Yeah. I can fly."

* * *

Hikari chose one of the tables in the courtyard and sat down, hoping for a quiet lunch all to herself. All possibility of that when Asuka Soryu von Doom strode towards her with a purpose, holding a tray of food in front of her as if it was a weapon. She dropped it on the metal picnic table with a loud clank that made tiny drops of milk spill over the edge of her Styrofoam cup and pool at its base. Hikari felt a latent buzzing in her head and instinctively moved to disentangle herself quickly from the table if she needed to.

"You carry yourself well," Asuka said, staring hard at her. "You are not what you appear to be."

"What do I appear to be?" said Hikari.

"Common," said Asuka. "Ordinary. You have powers. I'm no fool."

Before Hikari could speak, Asuka lifted her hand over the table, and with a tiny flash a ball of light sprang into being above her palm, and then slowly began dancing between her fingers. Hikari pulled back a little; she could feel the heat coming off of it. Her point made, Asuka closed her hand and picked up a breaded chicken stick from her tray.

"You have a weird way of making friends," said Hikari.

"I am not interested in being your friend."

"Is there a point to this?" said Hikari. "I'm trying to get a little peace and quiet here."

Asuka tilted her head to the side. "You're not afraid of me at all, are you?"

Hikari leaned forward. "Nope."

Her expression became inscrutable. "I think I like that. There is one other person here who is not afraid of me."

"Shinji?" said Hikari.

Asuka shot her a look. "No."

Hikari smirked into her cup, tipping back the first of five apple juices she had lined up on the table, and her stomach growled as she shoved a mass of noodles into her mouth.

"I guess I'm not so _ordinary,"_ said Hikari, "after all."

Asuka looked past her, wistfully, but said nothing. Hikari blinked. Was she showing an emotion, other than haughtiness? Was haughtiness an emotion?

"I suppose it's more of a trait," she said to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Hikari sighed. "What do you want, Asuka? If you're not interested in making friends."

"I want to know your intentions towards my betrothed."

"I want to tie him up and make him wear kitty cat ears," said Hikari. "What do you think my intentions are? He has a say in this too, you know. I told him how I feel about him. Have you?"

Asuka's cheeks colored at the mention of kitty cat ears, and she looked down, suppressing a twisting smirk. She seemed on the verge of laughing. When she looked up her face was hard again, the mask returned.

"You're making me wonder if you're not as bad as I thought," said Hikari. "Of course, you haven't done anything to excuse abusing Kaworu and being a huge bitch in general, yet."

Asuka blinked. "Do you always speak to people like this?"

"No," said Hikari, "only to huge bitches."

Asuka sneered. "I was raised to value strength. Coddling that girl does no one any good, least of all her. The others… it is their place to follow, and mine to lead. I must lead them."

"Okay," said Hikari. "You ever think about _where_ you lead them?"

"I set an example," said Asuka. "The strong must overcome the weak, and spur the weak to better themselves. That is the way of monarchs. I will be a queen."

She didn't sound all that convinced.

"You can be more than that," said Hikari, in between bites of a chicken sandwich. Her tray was mostly clean now, so she stood up.

Asuka stared at her, blankly. Hikari met her gaze for a moment, and left.

* * *

Asuka looked up from her meal. She no longer felt hungry. The Horaki girl simply did not understand. How could she, with her carefree life, without responsibilities, without the weight of authority on her shoulders? Asuka shook her head and poked at her food for a time, then glared at it. The chicken sandwich on her platter burst into flames, curling up and blackening like a dead spider, and she shoved it away in disgust, waving her hand and willing the flames out. Mari settled on the bench beside her, leaning languidly against the table.

"Poorly," Asuka muttered. "Leave me be for a while. I'm going to get some air."

"We have class," Mari yawned.

"I don't care," Asuka snapped, jumping to her feet.

"I should go with you," said Mari.

Asuka lifted her hand, curled her fingers into a first, and a wave of heat slammed out of her hand as it was wreathed in white hot fire, like a tiny sun. The flames winked out, and she shoved her hands in the pocket of her trousers and tossed her head.

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure-"

"I want to be alone," she said, harsher than she meant to.

Mari's face went blank. "Suit yourself," she shrugged, and rose, heading for class.

Asuka turned away from the cafeteria entrance and walked down campus towards the wrought iron gate at the south end of the lawn. Grasping the bars, she shimmied up to the top and swung her legs over, then slid down and landed in a crouching dismount and went on her way. She earned some stars from some salarymen at lunch as she crossed the street, hands jammed in her pockets, scowl in her face and waist-length copper hair in a tousled fall down her back, but a sharp glance of her own sent them scurrying.

She hadn't left campus for more than a few minutes for over a week, and hadn't left at all since Horaki started sniffing after Shinji. She was immensely bored of her classes; her tutors had covered all this material years ago, and the professors had the temerity to question von Doom. That Lawson was a liar and a cad, and Asuka would have suspected him of sniffing after the female students if he wasn't obviously catting about with that Katsuragi tart; the woman was shameless. She was tempted to report their fraternizations, but the laxity of discipline was…

Something caught her eye. There was a newsstand on the corner, next to a cafe and a sandwich shop. She glanced in either direction and hurried across the street, rushing up to the stacks of magazines. One of them had a picture of her on the cover. She recognized an official portrait, one taken before she left Latveria. She stood beside Doom at attention, hands folded behind her back, hair in a tight, elaborate braid, staring defiantly into the camera. She touched the picture, running her fingers down the slick cover, and sighed. She wanted to go home. She wanted…

She would not think about that.

Wondering why she was on the cover, she picked it up. The article was about her, and there were pictures of her, going in and out of the school, pictures of her speaking with the other girls, pictures of her at lunch, blurry and taken with a long lens. She was some kind of _celebrity_. They were stalking her! There was a flash of light over her shoulder, and she snapped her head around. A black van pulled away abruptly, and she saw a camera lens sticking out of one of the windows. She tossed the book down, ignoring the protests of the newsstand's clerk, and ran after it, darting into the street. It made a quick turn, tires squealing, and she skidded to a stop at the corner and threw out her hand. The back tire bubbled and burst with a loud bang, and the van lurched, the wheel sparking as the vehicle slid towards the sidewalk and came to a stop.

The photographer stepped out. Asuka waved her fingers and watched him sputter and jump to toss his camera away as it made a loud snapping sound and burst into flames, the plastic case bubbling. She let the flames wreathe her hand and stepped forward. He stumbled backwards and fell against a lamppost, eyes wide with terror.

She froze. He was faking it. His expression went flat, and the side of the van slid open. She dodged just in time to avoid a burly man in dark clothes grabbing for her, followed by two more piling out of the van. She clenched her fists and wreathed them in flame and moved with quick, practiced motions; she would fight to escape rather than to win, to break an opening an when she was out she would burn through the-

One of them tossed a balloon at her. On pure instinct she last out and the flame ruptured it, but it burst in a fine white powder that fell over her, stinging her eyes, making her stumble, and she felt the flames on her hands wink out. She scrubbed at her face, trying to get the powder out of her eyes; she could barely see through a haze of stinging tears. She had to get away, maybe blow the van's gas tank, and-

There was a high pitched, wordless cry and she saw Mari running for her. One of the thugs turned and threw his elbow and Mari made no move to avoid it, catching it in the jaw, and her head flew back, but it only made her grin ferally. She swept her claws over his stomach, slicing through cloth and flesh alike, drawing blood up to her knuckles, and spun one foot to deliver a crunching kick to the back of the head. The man next to her pulled a gun, aimed at her belly, and shot her twice in rapid succession.

She stumbled back against the van, clutching her stomach, a look of shock on her face for an instant before it twisted into laughter and she jumped forward, taking another bullet in the chest as she climbed up on the man, tearing at his face with her claws. He stumbled back, bowled over by her weight, and she grabbed the gun, burying her sharp claws in his hand, and wrenched it out of his grip to toss it away as he hit the wall. Ignoring the ragged wounds on her stomach and chest, she turned, ducked under the last one as he pulled out his weapon, and went low, sliding her clawed fingers over his ankles. He screamed as he went down and she hit him with an open-fingered uppercut, raking the length of his arm from the elbow to the gun, which dropped.

Asuka rounded on the photographer. He was on his hands and feet, trying to get up, when Asuka focused and the soles of his shoes bubbled and burst in a wet slap of liquefied rubber, and her upraised hand became a tiny sun. She pushed him on his back by the shoulder and held her blazing hand close to his face.

"The only reason I haven't boiled your eyes is that you will tell me who and why," she snapped, spitting white powder.

The man looked into her eyes.

Asuka blinked. The man twisted his jaw, bit down, and twitched, gagging. She jumped back, knowing cyanide by the smell. His mouth foamed, and she saw the others had done the same, even as they bled out on the sidewalk. Mari was wiping her bloodied hands on her pants and breathing hard. She touched the ragged, bloodied section of her uniform and spread it open. Asuka looked away as she jammed her fingers in her wound, grunting, and a moment later held two deformed lead slugs in her hand. She did the same with her chest and produced the third, and Asuka winced, looking at her. The wounds puckered closed, and in a moment the skin was bloodied, but unbroken.

"He shot me in the tit," she snapped. "That hurt. What the hell are you doing, chasing after them like that?"

Asuka shook her head. "I… did not think. I must think now."

"I'm thinking we need to get the hell out of here," said Mari.

"Wait," said Asuka. "I need to know who they are."

"There could be a bomb or something. Let's _go." _

"I must know!"

"They killed themselves to keep from talking. Do you think they left their villain cards in the glove box?"

Asuka ground her teeth. "Let's go."

Mari put an arm around her waist and they rushed back to the school by back alleys, heading for the dormitories. When they reached their building, Asuka stood behind Mari and looped her arms around the taller girl's neck. Mari laced her shoes together and held them by the laces in her mouth, and by her hands and feet climbed the brick wall, carrying them up to their window, which they kept unlocked. Little crumbles of mortar fell down behind them as Mari dug her claws into the wall. Clinging to her, Asuka pushed the window open and climbed in, Mari behind her.

Asuka stripped, pulling off her uniform until she stood in her underthings, and Mari did the same, smearing away the drying blood on her belly and chest with a towel, and they put all of it in a bucket. Asuka use some wet wipes to clean up the rest of the dried blood on Mari's skin and toweled the powder off her hands and face, and they put it all in a bucket. Asuka would burn it later.

Mari plucked in the bullet hole in the cup of her bra. "Don't say I never did anything for you. I think they were trying to kill you."

"No, they wanted me alive. The powder is flame retardant. It wouldn't have worked."

Mari rolled her eyes.

"Thank you," Asuka murmured, sliding her arms around Mari's waist.

Mari nuzzled the top of her head and made a soft purring sound. "I won't let anything hurt you."

"I can handle myself," Asuka snapped, pushing her back.

Mari rolled her eyes. Again.

"I need a shower," she said, "and _food. _Come on."

* * *

Hikari ducked away from the train platform as school let out and headed off towards home on foot. She smelled something burning and slowed between two low brick buildings, and climbed up, lifting herself over and onto the roof. Quickly, she shimmied out of her uniform jacket and pulled her sweatshirt on over her red shirt, tucking the collar under the hood, and pulled on her goggles and gloves. She tucked the rest in her pack, made sure it was tight to her back, and jumped the street, sailing the full length in a single leap.

She landed with a crouch, hopped the slighter gap between two buildings, and perched low on the roof, peering over the edge at the street below. There was a fire engine and ambulances and a dozen police cars blocking off the street. She lay flat on the roof, listening. A van was parked on the side of the road, and there was blood and scorch marks everywhere, and what looked like dead bodies being loaded into the ambulances, their faces covered with sheets. One person looked out of place, a man in a disheveled suit with a ponytail and a thin growth of beard. He didn't look like a cop, maybe like a TV detective, but not a real one. He was taking notes, nodding to himself.

The back of her head buzzed and she pushed back from the edge of the roof as he glanced up. Low and on all fours, she crawled along the roof until she was out of sight and started vaulting from rooftop to rooftop with half running leaps until she spotted a corner she could swing from and tossed out a webline. It wasn't far to her apartment now, and she _really _needed to get some homework done, as she was getting behind.

A cop car sped by under her, lights and sirens blaring. She kicked her feet to change the angle of her swing and followed. She spun the next web longer, and then longer still, until she was swinging over the street at the bottom of a deep arc and dropped lightly on top of the car. People on the sidewalk stared at her, but the driver didn't seem to notice her. He was plainly chasing the car ahead. There was a man in a ski-mask driving.

There was a baby seat in the back.

Hikari crouched until her tendons creaked and pushed off, feeling the cop car dip beneath her, and hoped she hadn't dented the roof. She sailed up and nearly over the car and landed on the rear hatch, clinging to the glass. She scrambled up quickly and moved to the front of the roof. She tapped on the window.

"Hey!"

The masked man, upside down from her perspective, glanced at her, turned his eyes to the road, and then turned to her in a panic, fumbling for his gun. Hikari punched her fist through the window without thinking, feeling the odd crunch as it shattered into tiny cubes, and yanked the gun out of his hand and tossed it to the side.

"Pull over!" she shouted.

"No!" he shouted back.

"There's a baby in the car!"

"I know!"

"You're a jerk!"

He swatted at her and she grabbed his hand, pushing his arm against the window pillar, his elbow locked. He struggled to steer with one hand. Hikari looked at the screaming baby, at the man in the mask, and back at the cop car. She used her other hand to fire a web, hit the shifter, and tugged it into neutral, then webbed it down. The car slowed and she pulled back as it rolled to a stop. The cop car squealed on the brakes, and Hikari ducked back up onto the roof of the hatchback, crouching. The man in the mask got out and broke into a run, until she webbed his ankles and he went down, hard. Hikari jumped on him, pulled his hands behind his back, and webbed them together.

The baby!

She ran to the car, pulled the door open, and then pulled it off the hinges. She stared at it for a second, tossed it aside, and lifted the screaming infant out of the seat, settling it against her chest. She looked up and saw the police officers getting out of the car. There were two of them, a man and a woman with a buzz cut. Hikari handed the baby over to the woman.

The man put his gun in her face.

"Freeze!"

"Kaito," the woman snapped, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Vigilantism is illegal."

"You're not going to shoot me," said Hikari.

He lowered the gun slightly. "Hit me."

"What?"

"Hit me. If I just let you go, I'll lose my job. I have a family, lady."

Hikari blinked. "Is your finger off the trigger?"

"Just do it!"

She gave him a little jab in the gut, turned, and bolted. Two steps took her up onto the top of the doorless hatchback. She crouched, jumped, and in a moment, she was swinging. By the time she reached the apartment, her heart was thundering in her chest. She opened the window, slipped inside, and pulled off her sweatshirt, stuffing it in her bag, along with her goggles and boots, and let out a breath.

Her head buzzed, and she kicked it all under her bed just as Kodama pulled her door open.

"Hikari? When did you get home?"

"Just now."

"Why are you all sweaty?"

"I went for a run. I don't want to get fat."

Kodama eyed her. "In your school clothes?"

"Uh, I'm breaking them in."

"Why didn't you tell me you have a boyfriend?"

"I have a what now?"

Kodama folded her arms over her chest. "He's in the kitchen. Change your clothes, or something. You smell."

Hikari blinked, and Kodama closed the door. She toweled off, changed her deodorant, and started to pull on a t-shirt. Boyfriend, what? She found a better looking shirt and pulled on another pair of pants and padded out of her bedroom barefoot, and Shinji was in the kitchen, humming and cooking her dinner. He looked over his shoulder at her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey yourself."

She moved to the stove. He had four pots going, and he had… stuff. It looked complicated.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

"This," said Shinj, and kissed her.

Her eyes flew wide. Her head buzzed. She was getting annoyed with that. She pulled back in time to see Nozomi standing in the kitchen, staring at them.

"Squee!" Nozomi shouted, and ran out of the kitchen. "Hikari kissed a boy! Hikari kissed a boy!"

"Get back here!" Hikari shouted, chasing her.

* * *

Rei curled on the couch, drawing her legs up to her chest, and turned on the television. She felt less uncomfortable now that Toji had explained these concepts of _television shows_ and _movies_ to her. It had never occurred to her that what she saw on an LCD screen would be anything but the absolute truth. She was still unclear on why people enjoyed being afraid, or why they would be entertained by being lied to in general. She used the remote to flip through the channels, taking each one in turn. There was a news channel and weather, and the things these stations showed were true. Sometimes, channels that predominantly showed falsehoods showed truth.

She found it unnecessarily complicated.

The news station was playing footage of the attack. It was jumbled and chaotic and was mostly images of dusty debris falling towards the cameras, and people running and screaming. Once she learned out how to use "DVR" she paused and watched it in slow motion, a step at a time, watching how the people moved. At first she saw only a chaos of individuals, but as she watched the moving step by step, she leaned forward, fascinated.

They touched each other. The adults held the hands of children, or of each other. Men sheltered women with their bodies, despite the plain truth that it would do them no good if a building fell on them. People who could have moved faster slowed to help those who could not, strangers pulled other strangers to safety. She watched in fascination until she had seen it all, twice. She understood that people could be kind to each other but had never seen it in action before, only felt a dim awareness of it. Sometimes when she was awake for a test she would see technicians showing each other affection in the cages; men and women would banter and joke, and sometimes Rei saw things she understood, at least intellectually, to be signs of physical attraction and affection. Rei wondered what that felt like, for one's existence to be desired by someone else.

No one desired Rei's existence, only her utility; one does not weep for a broken tool, but discards it and acquires another. She felt a pang of fear, wondering if her replacement had been brought out of the tank yet, if Summers would treat her the same way. There was nothing Rei could do for her. She changed the channel, not wishing to think of such things. She changed the channel until she found something called the History Channel, and began to watch that. A man with amusing hair was claiming that aliens created ancient civilizations. Rei put the remote down and watched.

Eventually that program ended, and another began. It was about something called World War II.

Rei's eyes widened as she listened, watching the people in the grayscale image banter with each other in alien tongues. There was a man that looked like an overlarge baby in an overcoat, and another who shouted and raised his right hand, and frightened Rei. Standing behind the shouting man was a man with a skull for a face, and Rei thought he was looking out from the screen, through her. She turned up the volume and listened to the narrator speaking about battles and troop movements, about the ways and uses of weapons. The sound of explosions made her jump in her seat and her eyes widen.

When Toji came through the door, she was sitting on the couch still, her chin propped on her knees, rapt at attention. He sat down before she noticed him, and let out a small sound, and reflexively put her feet on the floor. He glanced at her legs in a curious way and leaned back into the couch, sighing.

"Is your sister awake?" said Rei.

She was afraid if Toji's sister woke up, she would have to leave. She didn't know where she would go, and she liked Toji was kind to her, and made her feel better when she was frightened, and gave her things to eat she had never seen before.

He shook his head. Rei felt a pang of regret for her feelings.

"I hope she wakes soon," said Rei.

Toji nodded. "I won't make you leave when she comes back."

"I want her to wake up," said Rei. "I wish to meet her, if she is like you."

"I know, I just don't want you to get scared. I don't want you to run off, either."

Rei nodded. Toji was very kind. She liked Toji.

She moved closer to him. He shifted uncomfortably and did not look at her. She stopped moving closer to him, and sighed. Did he dislike her appearance? She knew she looked strange to normal people, and the newly grown tail that curled around her legs would not help. She looked at him and wondered if he would shelter her with his arms the way the men on the news did with women running from the Angel. She had never spent much time around men, only glancing at them as she went to and from the Eva, and had not thought about them much, either. Toji relaxed slightly, but he noticed her staring at him.

"Why are you watching this?" he said, finally.

"I was curious," said Rei. "I have never learned history before."

Toji sighed. "I better get us some dinner. You want a frozen dinner?"

Rei nodded, eyes locked on the television. She turned the sound back up as he went to prepare their evening meal. The subject of the program had changed, or a new one had started while she was talking to Toji; perhaps that was why he was curious. She watched stuttering grayscale footage of men in black uniforms and all kind of people, all of whom were very thin. Rei steeled herself, reminding herself that it must not be real. It must have been fiction mixed in with truth, like the other channels. The things the narrator was saying could not be true.

"Rei, why are you watching this stuff?" Toji said, carrying two steaming trays of food into the living room. He put them on the table in front of the couch and sat down.

"I understand that it is not real," Rei said, defensively.

Toji looked at her and back at the television and back at her again. "Rei, this is real. This is the History Channel. This stuff happened."

Rei's eyes widened, and she felt tears welling up in them. Was that her? Was she crying?

Toji snatched the remote and hurriedly changed the station, settling on a game show.

* * *

Sakura had the impression that she was walking in a field of flowers, strolling down a stone road, but she knew there was danger all about her, hanging in the air like a haze. In each curled flower bud, there was a single human eye, swiveling to watch her. The Ancient One strode beside her, serene in his walking meditation.

"Where are we going?" said Sakura.

"This place does not operate under the rules of the material universe, Sakura. In this place, we are free from our physical bodies, and from tampering with our minds."

"Tampering?" said Sakura. "Like what?"

The Ancient One stopped. He looked into the flowers and they looked back, all of the eyes locking on him. "Five times, Earth has been visited by beings from beyond the stars, and each time, all memory and knowledge of their presence was erased. They are the First Ancestors, and it was they who seeded this world with life- and laid the groundwork for Second Impact. Come."

He moved and she hurried to follow. He walked so briskly she could barely keep up, and when he stopped, she was panting.

"You cling to your physical form," he said in exasperation, looking her up and down. "You act as if you breathe air, as if there is ground under your feet. Would you be out of breath in a dream?"

Sakura shook her head, but her fatigue didn't leave her. "Why me? Why am I so important?"

"All mutations are physical," said the Ancient One, turning to walk. "Even mental ones. I knew a man named Charles Xavier who could read the minds of others, remove and insert memories, lock another person's mind and cause them to freeze in place, speak through their mouths and control their limbs. I met a protégé of his, a woman named Jean Grey who could move objects with her mind. Their mutations were physical- as are yours."

Sakura stopped. "I'm a mutant?"

"Yes," said the Ancient One. "Come, we are almost there. "You are a mutant, as is your brother and all of your classmates. You are all more important than you know. The prophesied time is at hand, and we must prepare."

"What prophesied time?"

"What did I say a moment ago, about visitors to the Earth?"

"You said they came five times," said Sakura.

"Yes, and Second Impact was like a bell, calling them from afar. The Sixth Host is approaching, Sakura."

"The what?"

She looked around. Somehow, she'd stepped off a brick road through a garden of insanities onto a powdery white surface beneath a black sky. Looking up, she saw a profusion of stars, like light spilled from a great jar across the heavens, and ahead of her was a city of stone, pillars and columns and arches and spiraling forms, all blue. When she walked, she kicked up tiny puffs of dust and left footprints that faded out behind her.

"Some parts of the astral are closer to the waking world than others," said the Ancient One. "When you become an Adept, you will use this truth to communicate and scry across great distances, enhancing your knowledge and that of others in the course of your duties. For now, I will guide you. There is another who can explain better than I, show you truths that are best heard from knowing lips. Follow."

She followed him across the landscape, and stumbled as she realized where she was.

The Earth hung in the sky, too small, a pale blue orb in the heavens, marbled with cloud and soil.

"Quickly now," said the Ancient One.

She followed him towards a great door.

"The door is here, but it is meaningless to us. Step through it."

Before she could protest, he did as he said, and vanished, like a ghost in a cheesy movie. She closed her eyes and followed, and found herself walking in a corridor. She rounded a wide corner, and found the Ancient One standing face to face with a giant, a man twelve feet tall at least. His head was enormously oversized and hairless, lacking even eyebrows. He was dressed in a strange toga and cloak that he held to his shoulder with one hand. He nodded to the Ancient One and his gaze fell on her.

"Greetings, Sakura Suzahara. I am the Watcher. Come, and learn of the Celestial Hosts."

The Watcher froze. "Hold. There is…"

"Give the girl a chance old friend," said the Ancient One.

Sakura blinked. A chance at what? She looked around, and something settled on her shoulders, like someone tugging at her. She turned slightly, and she felt it too.

"Someone is watching us," she whispered.

* * *

Gendo sat in his office, a folder of reports spread across his desk, when the alarm chimed and a red light flashed through the glass surface. He touched it, and the holographic image of Chairman Kihl, or the holographic image he presented, anyway, appeared in front of him, eye visor flashing from side to side. He regarded Gendo coolly, a disembodied face hanging in the air like a warning ghost.

"Ikari," he said flatly. "You have a mask in your city."

Gendo grimaced. He knew already, of course, but was hoping not to intervene. Someone was laughing at him, an exaggerated, pronounced laugh, _ha ha ha_.

"It must be dealt with, quickly and quietly. Kill her."

"As you wish," Gendo said, hoping his voice did not shake.

"The Fourth awakes, as the signs decree. Our estimates give you less than sixteen hours this time."

"Unit Zero has no pilot, and Unit One is not ready. I will have to deploy the von Doom girl."

Kihl regarded him for a moment, face unmoving. "So be it. The vigilante, Ikari. Do not forget."

Kihl's face winked out, and Gendo fell back in his seat, and then nearly jumped out of it. The top drawer to his left was open, and sitting in it like a discarded snake skin was a green rubbery mask with golden eye lenses, staring at him over a hollow, distorted grin.

_You know what she is._

He would not speak to it out loud. He wouldn't!

"No," he snapped.

_The Spider is mine. All Spiders are mine._

"No!"

He slammed the drawer shut. How did the mask get there? It and the rest of the gear were safely contained in the locker behind the false wall in his closet. He only used it the one time, he was sure. If he focused, kept his wits about himself, he could keep it from getting out of control. The gas he'd inhaled was much more refined than the one that drove Osborn mad, he knew it. He needed it, if he'd simply walked into Toshiro's house and shot him…

_Let me out!_

A woman's voice. Whose voice? It didn't matter. Someone was talking to him.

"Gendo?" said Summers, touching the side of his head.

He moved to brush her hand away, but when her cool fingers touched his scalp they seemed to sink into his skull and draw out all the pain, and he relaxed, feeling the tension flow out of him. She sat down in his lap and leaned against him, her too-hot skin close to his face, warm even though her clothes. She undid the top button of her blouse and her impressive cleavage spread it apart, baring her milky white skin.

"I-I have work to do," said Gendo. "Leave me."

"Not yet," she murmured, touching her lips to his chin. "Just relax. Let the tension flow out of you."

"Yes," said Gendo. "I feel better."

"Of course you do. You're with me."

"I have to make a phone call," he said, absently.

She brushed her hands through his hair and pulled his head onto her chest.

"Dial Ryoji Kaji," said Gendo.

Summers undid another button. Her skin was fever hot.

The phone rang twice.

"Kaji."

"Meet me at the Two Thieves tonight," said Gendo. "We have business to discuss."

"Seven," said Kaji, and hung up.

"I should go with you," said Summers. "I'll wear a little black dress and no one will know you're there."

"No," he shook his head. He was confused. "I have to meet him alone. I should go now."

"Oh," she pouted. "Promise me we can play later."

"I promise," said Gendo.

She detangled herself from him, her hips swaying as she brushed her lustrous black hair over her shoulder and did up her blouse. "Don't be too long."

"I won't," Gendo said, smiling.

He blinked a few times when she stepped out of his office, and his smile faded.

Someone was laughing at him.

* * *

Mana touched the sample to the tip of her nose and sniffed, then carefully closed the vial and sniffed the air. The scent she was seeking hung on the air like an invisible cord, wafting through the halls, hidden by a dozen others such that only she could have found it. She wound her way through the students, eyes flashing back and forth as she followed the trail, drawn inexorably to it. She could not fail. She had to find her target.

The Suzahara boy was wreathed in the scent, mingled with his own. He'd been in close contact with the subject, and recently. Her knuckles itched, but she had to wait. There was some commotion; the von Doom girl had gone missing before turning up in the dormitories, and the student body was busy murmuring rumors to each other. The Horaki girl, the strong one, moved through the school with a purpose. She could tell where the Commander's son was; something about him made her feel queasy, like he was tugging on her bones. She weaved through the students, hanging back so the Suzahara boy would not see her.

She followed him out onto the platform, and now that she was in the open air, she could be sure. The target's scent was heavy on him, and fresh. He stepped onto his train and Mana followed, heading to the end of the car. She pulled a book out and pretended to read it, glancing at him. He remained oblivious, focused only on the floor of the train car. As it pulled away from the platform, she glanced out, watching the school and the cloud of students swing away, indistinct and blurred by the glass of the windows, streaked with grime. Suzahara fidgeted in his seat.

When he got up, it was at a downtown stop. Mana waited so as to avoid the appearance of following him, and stepped off just in time to see him hurriedly rounding a corner, his hands thrust in his pockets. As she caught up with him he pushed through the revolving glass doors of one of the civilian hospitals. Curious. Mana followed, taking one of the side doors, again avoiding attention. She would lose him in the elevator if she was not careful. She was in luck; it was nearly full, and with her focus she cut through the din of noise around her.

"Fourth floor, please," he said.

She caught the next elevator and stepped off onto the fourth floor in time to see him walk into one of the intensive care rooms. A nurse stopped Mana in her tracks, forcing her to fidget and glance over the woman's shoulder.

"Miss? I haven't seen you before. Can I help you?"

Mana's knuckles itched. Not here, too many witnesses. She could _not_ lose her target. She looked off, focused, read a name off one of the plates next to the doors and muttered it. The nurse shrugged and waved her past, and she ducked into that room.

Lying on the bed was an old man with crushed legs, lifted up in traction. She smelled death on him; his end would come soon no matter what they did. She moved to the old man's side and he stared at her and worked his toothless mouth in silence, lips sunken over flattened gums, and Mana carefully listened to the Suzahara boy whispering to whoever he was visiting, his words drowned out by the beeping and the rasping breathing of the delirious old man in the bed. Mana sniffed the air again; the old man was rotting from the inside, barely clinging to life. She glanced at his medical chart; he was in his eighties, and would not walk again. His glassy eyes did little more than reflect her as she walked up to him.

She headed the Suzahara boy leaving, and glanced around. She popped one claw, wincing inwardly as the nine inch long slivered of metalized bone slid between her first and second knuckles, then slid the blade into the old man's chest and pierced his heart and slid it back out again. When he died in a few minutes, it would be blamed on an unnoticed wound, one of many. By the time he was gurgling for his last breaths she was already following Suzahara. This time she took the stairs and sprinted for the lobby, and arrived in time to follow him out.

From the hospital he went on foot, and she followed, hanging back at the corners and alleys to avoid detection. If he'd only glanced over his shoulder, he might have spotted her, but with his hands in his pockets and his head down, his mind was not on his surroundings and he was an easy mark. She watched as he made the last turn and walked down a residential sidewalk. His family must have had money; they had a whole house, not an apartment. Mana ducked behind a dumpster and watched him head up the steps, then sprinted, moving low, her hands itching wildly. The scent was strong now, on its own and not clinging to the boy. She made her way up the stairs, wincing when they creaked, and onto the front porch.

Mana crouched beneath the window and listened to the Suzahara boy speaking to someone who replied in a soft voice. She chanced to look up over the windowsill, saw a tuft of silvery blue hair and ducked back down, heading down along the side of the house, cut through the small back yard, jumped the fence, and pulled out her phone, dialing the only number in its memory.

"What?" Summers said, angrily.

"I found her," said Mana. "I have the address. Should I take her now?"

"No, not yet. Do not expose yourself. You have other tasks to perform at the school."

"Yes, mother," said Mana, and hung up.

She stuffed the phone in her pocket and started back towards the school and the dormitories, where her duties lay.


	8. Angel of the Morning

_Previously on…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_Hikari launched her career as Spider-Girl, confronting a group of muggers and rescuing an infant from a car thief. Shinji shocked her by appearing at her home to cook dinner, confirming his intensions. _

_Asuka confronted Hikari, but was left with more questions than answers. Skipping school for the day, she was attacked by a group of would-be kidnappers, only for Mari to appear at the last second. The survivors bit down on suicide pills rather than reveal their allegiance. _

_While Rei and Toji grew closer, Gendo schemed and plotted, the soft voices in his head growing to a roar as the Green Goblin's mask somehow appeared in his desk drawer. _

_A directive came from Kihl himself... Spider-Girl must die! Gendo arranged a meeting with Kaji to secure a contractor to take care of his spider problem..._

_Meanwhile, the mysterious Mana Kirishima followed Toji home… looking for Rei. _

* * *

"**ANGEL OF THE MORNING"**

* * *

Misato was beginning to feel just a bit tipsy. She took a sip of wine from her glass and put it on the table, and dabbed at her lip with her folded linen napkin. It'd been a while since she'd eaten in a place like this, not since… well, the last time ended with a proposal. She wasn't expecting that, since this amounted to a drink after work, or was supposed to. Somehow, Lawson -Erik- had talked her out of sitting at the bar and she joined him in a booth instead, and then he was ordering drinks for her and it all seemed perfectly natural.

"So where are you from, anyway?"

He looked at his beer. "Queens, originally. I lucked out, I suppose. I was backpacking in Europe when Second Impact hit. After that I sort of drifted from place to place, until I wound up joining the expat community here. Europe wasn't exactly agreeable to me. I have problems with a certain Latverian dictator, you might say."

Misato folded her hands together and leaned on them. "The students are always talking about your lectures. I could see you having problems in a place like that."

"I met him once," said Lawson, sipping his beer. He looked at the glass with disdain. "Very briefly. I was at an academic conference in Germany. I had the displeasure of meeting his wife, as well."

"You mean Asuka's mother," said Misato. "You met her?"

"The daughter is the spitting image, I can tell you," said Lawson. "Yes, I met von Doom. He didn't speak to me, just stared at me through the eye holes of that mask of his and moved on. I was beneath notice, of course. I much prefer it that way. I've earned my share of trouble gaining the attention of my betters."

"How so?"

He shrugged. "I have a tendency to run my mouth. My brother always chided me about my silver tongue."

"You have a brother?" said Misato.

"Had," he said, wistfully. "I lost him a long time ago, too long, really. It changes things, you know. We were always at each other's throats when we were alive, but distance and memory have a way of changing one's perspective."

"What happened to him?"

Lawson smiled quietly to himself. "We were given a choice. Fight against impossible odds, or run away. He fought. I ran."

Misato frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's quite alright," said Lawson, motioning for another beer. "The beer here is terrible. This… Yebisu, is it? Revolting."

Misato eyed him. "What did you say?"

"I said I don't like it. I'm afraid all my favorite brews are long gone."

"_I_ like it," Misato said, defensively.

"You're too young. You've never had a proper drink."

"I have so," said Misato, downing her wine. "I'm an expert drinker."

"Mead. Have you ever had mead?"

"No. What is it?"

"Honey wine," said Lawson, wistfully. "No one makes it anymore. There used to be enough to bathe in, when… I shouldn't wax nostalgic. That was then, this is now."

"You are such a fascinating man. My story isn't nearly so impressive."

He leaned forward. "I'm sure it is. It's all in the telling, you know."

"I lost my family, too," she said, turning her wine glass in her hands. "It feels so strange, how comfortable with it I am. It's just a fact."

"I don't think that's true. I don't think you're comfortable with it," said Lawson. "You don't have to speak of such things if you don't wish to."

"It's okay. My mother was in Japan during Second Impact. She was caught in the tsunami."

"That's terrible. I'm sorry to hear it."

"My father was with me. That's how I survived. I don't know exactly where we were. I was almost fourteen, but everything before and after is a blur. All I remember is seeing his face as he lowered me into the escape pod. That's the only reason I survived, he gave his life for mine."

She looked at him. There was something odd in his expression.

"I need more wine."

"That's your sixth glass," said Lawson. "I don't think we should drink anymore tonight. You may find I have you at a disadvantage."

Misato smirked to herself and slipped her foot out of her shoe, then ran her stockinged foot up the side of his leg, lazily, touching him with just her toe. He jerked, eyes widening, and smirked to himself.

"You'll have to walk me home. I think I've been drinking."

Lawson dropped a sheaf of bills on the table as the waitress delivered his last beer, then hefted the glass and downed it all at once. He stepped out of the booth and offered Misato a hand, and she needed it, as the world decided to spin and tilt lazily when she got up. She ended up leaning on him as they walked out of the restaurant.

She admitted it to herself. She was just a little tipsy. Just a touch. She hadn't gone overboard or anything.

"I hope none of the students see us," she said, glancing around. "They'd start spreading rumors."

"I'm afraid they do already," said Lawson, cradling her arm in his. "Half of them seem to think we've secretly eloped because you've talked to me twice."

She giggled. "I'm staying away from any altars. I don't think it matters. No one wants the Christmas cake."

"The what?"

"It's a tradition," Misato slurred, stumbling a little. "They make this cake at Christmas and after Christmas is over no one wants it because it's too old, even if it's a good cake," she sighed. "A pretty cake."

"I wouldn't compare you to a confection, Miss Katsuragi," said Lawson. "I certainly wouldn't call you stale. You seem quite ripe, as it were. I'm sure I'm not the only one that thinks so. The boys at the school would have you be Lady Sif and Aphrodite all bound up in one."

"Thanks," she sighed, "I like being ripe. I think I'm drunk."

"Just a little," said Lawson. "Hold on."

He scooped her up, and she yelped a little, and then put her arms about his neck. He was very strong, and supported her weight in his arms easily, even as he carried her up the stairs to her apartment and she fished around in her purse for her keys to open the door to her apartment. He carried her over the threshold like a newlywed and lowered her onto the couch, and as he stood up, she grabbed his tie.

"Maybe you should stay the night."

He hesitated for a moment, then gently removed her hand and placed it on her stomach. "I don't think that would be a good idea. We have class in the morning, and…"

"And what?"

He sighed. "I'm not what I appear to be. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"Nobody cares about foreigners stealing Japanese women anymore," she tugged on his tie. "Stay."

"I wish I could," he said, wistfully. "I wish… it's not important. Have you ever heard the story of the fox and scorpion?"

"No," Misato slurred, clutching her head. "Whas's it about?"

"Once there was a fox, who came upon a scorpion standing on a river's bank.

"The scorpion said to the fox, 'Brother Fox, do me a kindness, and swim with me across this river.'

"The fox said to the scorpion, 'I can't do that, Brother Scorpion, for you are a scorpion and you will surely sting me.'

"'But if I sting you,' said the scorpion, 'we'll both drown. Why would I do that?'

"Taking the scorpion at his word, the fox took him on his back and began to swim across the river. When they reached halfway, the scorpion stung the fox, and the both sank into the waters together.

"As the fox sank, with his last breath, he questioned the scorpion. 'Why did you sting me if you knew we would both die?'

"The scorpion shrugged and said, 'I'm a scorpion.'"

"The scorpion is a real jerk," Misato said, yawning.

"I know," said Lawson.

Misato rolled onto her side. He found a blanket and spread it over her, then flipped her cell phone open. It beeped as he set the alarm and he rested it on the floor near her head. He touched his two fingers to her forehead and she suddenly felt crushingly tired, like all her bones had tripled in weight, but the haze of booze was beginning to recede.

"What'd you do?" she slurred, barely able to fight off sleep.

"I did something about the headache you'd have woken up with otherwise. It is my fault, after all."

"How?"

He shrugged. "I still have a little magic left."

She was already asleep, and didn't hear him.

* * *

Shinji was a stranger in a strange land.

Hikari's father was absent -work, he was told- but Shinji sat around the kitchen table with Hikari and her sister Kodama, while the youngest, Nozomi, played some cute chibi character video game in the living room. The whole apartment would have fit in Gendo's master suite, and yet it all felt so vast to him.

He was surprised to meet Hikari's older sister. She was beautiful in an unassuming kind of way- an older, more mature Hikari, although they seemed closer in age than they were supposed to be. Her eyes were piercing and she leaned over her mostly eaten plate of sashimi, which Shinji had prepared from ingredients he picked up on his way to the apartment, and the way she held her chopsticks reminded him somehow of a praying mantis.

"So," said Kodama. "You are my sister are… seeing each other."

Shinji glanced at Hikari, who gave him the most imperceptive of nods. At some point after she'd gotten home she'd scrubbed her face and pulled her hair up in a loose something that stuck out from the back of her head, all very casual and informal, but it looked complicated. Every time she moved her hair would swirl like a miniature storm, drawing his eyes, and her lack of any makeup or anything spoke volumes on its own. She didn't need it.

"Yes," said Shinji. "We've been eating together at school…" he winced, inwardly, they'd only had lunch together twice, really, "and I thought I'd stop by."

"I'm glad you did. I haven't eaten like this since Hikari became too busy with schoolwork to cook dinners for us."

He felt something move against his leg and nearly jumped out of his skin. He realized that Hikari was touching her bare foot against his ankle, edging the cuff of his pants up. Her toes were cool and swept against his calf, and he shuddered in the seat, trying not to look at her as she smiled enigmatically at him. Did she have to do that?

"Something wrong?"

"No," said Shinji, launching into a forced yawn that soon became a real one. "I should get going. We have school tomorrow."

Hikari looked petulantly at him, and then broke into a mischievous smile. "I'll walk you home."

"I don't-"

The caress turned into a slight kick, and he jerked in the seat. "Okay."

"Fine," said Kodama. "Be careful, and don't be out all night, Hikari."

Shinji got up and said his goodbyes while Hikari grabbed her school backpack, for some reason. When they were both in shoes, Hikari waved to Kodama and pushed him outside.

"Follow me," she said, heading to the stairs.

Shinji blinked, but followed her, even when she started _up_, not down.

"Where are you going?"

"The roof," said Hikari, as if that were perfectly normal.

"Why?"

"I have a surprise for you."

She pushed the door open and stepped out, then slipped out of her shoes. She pulled her backpack open and drew out a pair of tabi boots and slipped them on, then shrugged into a sweatshirt with a white spider on the front and back and pulled her hair into a tighter ponytail. Finally, she tugged on a pair of gloves and a pair of big goggles that served as a sort of mask.

"Hop on my back."

"_What?"_

She sighed, and then backed up against him. "Put your arms around me."

He swallowed, hard.

"Do it, Shinji."

He sighed and put his arms around her, settling them under her shoulders. He tried not to think too hard about where his arms were, as that could prove embarrassing. She smelled strongly but not of perfume, almost a color more than a scent, a kind of ochre, but he under it he could taste the fruity shampoo she used. She was warm to the touch, moreso as he settled against her, her back pressed against his chest.

"Put your legs around my waist. Trust me."

He paused for a moment, then did as she said, clamping his legs around her hips. She bore his weight as easily as if he were her backpack, and balanced with no trouble at all. Hanging onto her back he had to hold on tight and put his chin against her cheek, and he didn't mind that at all.

He did mind, however, when she jumped off the roof.

Shinji screamed at the top of his lungs as Hikari leapt out into space, holding on for dear life, but at the same time he felt something pulling him towards her, as though they were stuck together, somehow. That didn't matter much, as he was still screaming and they were still careening towards the pavement, until she lanced her hand out and a silvery twang sent a thin line of web out from her wrist.

All at once they were swinging, kind of loping from building to building in long, slow sweeps that made his stomach sink and then rise again when they reached the bottom of the arc. He heard laughing and realized that it was Hikari, and to his shock, he was laughing too, reveling in the sheer joy of the movement, of _flyin_ clung more tightly to her and watched the world tilting and yawing lazily around him, the wind in his hair as she went faster and faster. It was easier to get some speed as the buildings got taller.

"Do you like it?" she shouted.

"Yeah!" he shouted back.

He could feel her heart beating, like a bird in a cage held against his chest, and wondered if she felt the same. He felt her body twisting and flexing, her muscles tensing against him, and worst of all he felt the soft weight of her chest resting on his arms as he held her around the midriff, his legs now hanging off in space. He had a feeling that if he let go he wouldn't fall anyway, but he had his chin on Hikari's shoulder and he leaned into the turns as she changed direction.

With a pained sigh he realized this would have to end.

"There," he said, looking off to their left. "Don't get too close."

Hikari nodded and dropped onto a rooftop, maybe a ten minute walk from the house. Most of the higher level Nerv staff lived here. Hikari dropped over the edge, lowering herself onto a line in an alley between two buildings.

When their feet touched the ground again she turned around in his arms, draping hers around his so he couldn't let go, and pushed her goggles up. Her hair was a mess but she was grinning and now she was pressed against him very tightly and then she kissed him, and when her lips touched his he couldn't help but surrender to it. She didn't taste sweet or like fruit like in a silly romance book, she tasted salty, almost like sweat, but he liked that a lot and when her lips were touching his he almost forgot who he was for a moment, and he liked that most of all.

She broke from it slowly, pulling back without letting it go.

"What's wrong?"

He could feel it, if it was a bad one, he always could.

"There's a storm coming."

* * *

Maya yawned as she walked into the lab. Ritsuko was already there, and she was busily hunched over her terminal. Her labcoat was folded over the back of her chair and she was dressed in what appeared to be a pair of tights and a loose t-shirt that hung down over one shoulder. She had bags under her eyes and had four half-full cups of coffee sitting in a neat row next to her terminal. There was a full one sitting in front of her mother's urn. Maya winced a little.

Then she felt a little odd.

Ritsuko didn't notice her, she was so intent on her work. Maya stared at her for a minute, watching the reflection of the monitors glint off her glasses, but her eyes wandered over the creamy skin of Ritsuko's shoulder and the back of her neck, marred by the slight, faded irritation caused by her spinal implants. Ritsuko Akagi was an astonishingly beautiful woman. Maya thought it was envy she felt, but there was something else to it. It was not a simple wish to _be _Ritsuko, although she would gladly accept her looks and intelligence.

The older woman looked up, and Maya felt her cheeks heat.

"Good morning," Ritusko yawned, "Are you going to start giving me guff for not wearing pants?"

Maya started to say something but Ritsuko stood up and stretched, her back making soft mechanical sounds, and put her arms up over her head. Her long shirt, like something she would wear to sleep, draped all around her as if it might fall off at any moment, and though it was thick enough cotton Maya had a distinct impression of the lithe, shapely body underneath. Ritsuko grabbed a pair of sweat pants and pulled them on over her tights, and Maya found herself studying the woman's posterior, particularly the way the black fabric strained against flexing muscle.

Wait, was she wearing that plugsuit?

"What brings you in early?"

"Nothing," Maya said. "What are you working on?"

"Oh, this and that," said Ritsuko.

Maya put down the fresh cup of coffee she was carrying, which wasn't for her, and slid into her chair, logging in to the system.

"Hey," she said, "What's taking up five percent of the MAGI cycles?"

"Oh, that's me," said Ritsuko. "I'm running some diagnostics and working on a new interface."

"New interface?" said Maya.

"Watch," said Ritsuko. "MAGI?"

A synthesized voice spoke in reply. "Yes, Dr. Akagi?"

Ritsuko grinned. "Tell my assistant what she's hearing."

"Good morning, Miss Ibuki. I am an advanced heuristic interface for the MAGI triumvirate. Dr. Akagi programmed me to run simultaneously on all three nodes and aggregate answers to verbal queries. You may address me anywhere in the base there is a security camera or terminal."

Ritsuko grinned. "Cool, huh?"

Maya nodded.

"Dr. Akagi, the schematic diagnostic for the Mark Three is complete. Would you like me to initiate fabrication?"

"Yes," said Ritsuko.

"Mark Three what?" said Maya.

"I am not cleared to reveal that information to you, Miss Ibuki," said the computer. "I apologize."

"Oh," Maya said, defeated.

"I'm playing this one close to the chest," said Ritsuko. "Sorry."

Maya shrugged. Ritsuko stared at her for a second, then smirked and pulled her shirt over her head.

Maya turned around suddenly, the computer forgotten for a moment. She had the plugsuit on after all. It kept her arms and shoulders free, and minimized her bust a little, but it looked very supportive. Maya would ask for one, if she had much to support. She realized she was staring at Ritsuko's reflection in the monitor and tried to turn away, but something kept her eyes glued to the screen. Ritsuko pulled on a much smaller, tighter shirt with the word "BITCH" written in block letters across the chest and ran her fingers through her close-cropped hair, and for the first time Maya noticed she'd bleached it again. She was shoving a stick of deodorant under her arms as Maya turned around.

"You changed your hair," said Maya.

"I got sick of the ghost in the monitor," Ritsuko said, quietly. "When it grows out I might try some pink or something. You know, go punk."

Maya smirked. She spotted something on the desk.

"Hey," she said. "I know this! This is Tony Stark's stuff. Isn't that the Silver Centurion armor?"

Ritsuko stared at her, wide-eyed. "Uh, yes. I'm working on some improvements for the Eva's armor. It's mostly Vanko's designs but Stark's suits had better joints. After last time, I think we need to integrate some more on-board weapons, as well. Rei might have had a better chance of defending herself. Giant robots picking up giant guns is kind of dumb, if you think about it."

Maya nodded. "It's more modular, though."

"True," said Ritsuko, "but it leaves them vulnerable if the weapons don't work. The Angel moved a lot faster than anybody expected, much faster than the Eva. I'm worried about what the next one is going to look like."

"Won't they all look the same?" said Ritsuko.

"I don't know. Nobody can tell me. Summers has all the bio samples from the dead one." Ritsuko all but spat the other woman's name.

"Well," said Maya. "We might have some time to work on this. It was fourteen years from Second Impact until the first attack, right?"

"Maya," said Ritsuko, "haven't you ever heard of jinxing-"

On cue, the alarm went off.

* * *

Asuka's Nerv-issued cell phone buzzed on the desktop and she sat up. Mari stirred beside her, pulling the blankets up to her chin. As she slept she was at her most strange and cat-like, tending to curl into a ball and press herself against the nearest warm object. Being that object, Asuka had to shift out from under her arms and get up. The process, unfortunately, woke her.

The blaring alarm would have done it anyway. Mari sat bolt upright, ears twisting like little radar dishes, and was on her feet an instant later, her long night shirt swaying around her knees.

"Is it an attack?"

Asuka looked at her grimly and answered the phone.

"Pilot von Doom, report to the staff car at the dormitory entrance."

The bored-sounding Nerv tech hung up before she could answer. She tossed the phone on the bed; she didn't need it. She quickly began pulling on a pair of slacks; the t-shirt she slept in would have to do. Her fingers fumbled with the zipper and buttons, until she took a breath to focus and still herself. She brushed her hair back and Mari took it, tying with an elastic band. She slipped her arms around Asuka and kissed her on the cheek.

"You're going to be okay," she murmured, making a soft, cat-like purr.

"Yes," said Asuka.

"Because if you're not, Commander Ikari has a date with my claws."

Asuka smirked softly to herself, and turned in Mari's embrace returning it.

They looked at each other for a moment.

Asuka kissed her.

Mari's ears stood on end and her eyes went open wide. She stared at Asuka in shock.

"My my," Mari grinned. "I think she likes me. One day you're going to get all touchy with me where someone else can see."

"I have to go," said Asuka, pulling away. "Get to the shelter."

Mari nodded. "One day. I can't wait to see the look on my Princess' face when she finally breaks a _real _rule."

While Mari joined the stream of students heading for the shelters, Asuka headed in the opposite direction. She pushed open the front door of the dormitory and jogged down to the waiting staff car. The Section 2 men knew by now not to speak to her unbidden. They slapped the door shut next to her and she sank into the seat, staring over her shoulder, trying not to think of all the buildings that were crushed to powder in the last attack, and how vulnerable the shelters were.

She didn't want to think that way. She didn't want to be vulnerable.

"_Where's Mommy?"_

"_She is lost to us, my child." _

"_Daddy, I don't understand." _

"_Don't call me that."_

She shuddered. The thought was alien, unwelcome. She put her hands to the sides of her head and tried to force it away, but those memories had a way of worming out of the grave she'd dug for them whenever she was stressed. Mari could put them back, but Mari was not here. She hadn't addressed her father as anything other than _my Lord _for years.

The driver and his partner were looking at her. She thumbed the button and sent the glass partition up, walling them off.

* * *

He was three steps down the sidewalk when he heard the siren, and Toji panicked. He should have run for the shelter, but didn't. He bolted back up the porch steps, not hearing them creak under him, and hit the door so hard it popped open without his touch, sending thin slivers of wood across the carpeting. He stared at them dumbfounded. Rei was still at the kitchen table, staring at him in shock, a spoon in her hand and a half-chewed mouthful of colorful breakfast cereal between her teeth. She liked sweet things and bright colors, because she never experienced much of either.

Toji was feeling really weird. She wasn't wearing the same thing, or as little, as the women in the pictures Kensuke showed him on the internet, but he felt the same way whenever she looked at her. She swallowed and jumped up and ran to him, and when she crashed into him he was almost glad a giant alien monster was coming to destroy the city, because it gave him an excuse to hold her. She was soft and warm and she smelled like soap and her hair was frizzy and tickled his chin. Her tail wrapped around him, too.

_This is wrong_, he thought. _I'm taking advantage of her. I'm the only boy she's ever met. _

It didn't feel wrong. He realized he'd lifted her up from the floor and gently set her back down, somehow aware of her delicate feet resting on the bare floorboards. She curled her toes up; she was always cold.

"Rei, we have to get to a shelter."

"I can't go to a shelter," she said not letting him go. "They'll find me."

"We can disguise you or something," he said, trying to disentangle himself from her. "Cover you up."

"I can't," she said, staring at him. "Please."

She was grabbing him again. "If we stay here and the fighting comes this way…"

"I can get us out, and you will not let me be hurt. That's your power, isn't it?"

"My what?"

"Your mutation," said Rei. "You can't be hurt."

Toji blinked, and he felt his stomach clench. _My mutation_. It would explain why Sakura was hurt and he wasn't, why a building toppling on them didn't kill them both.

It wasn't fair. Why him? Why not her?

"Toji?" said Rei. "What is wrong? Did I offend you?"

"No, No, I just… We'll stay here. Come on."

He pulled all the curtains and sat down on the couch with her. She curled up against him, drawing her legs up to her chest, and he put his arm over her shoulders. It seemed entirely natural, and he did promise to shield her. The alarm died down, finally, and she relaxed a little. It was Toji who jumped when the lights went out, and the television clicked off with a loud thump as it was robbed of electricity.

"What's happening?"

"Nerv will have disconnected the arc reactors from the city grid," said Rei. "Only hospitals and vital systems will have power until the attack is over."

"Rei?" said Toji.

"Yes?"

"What's it like, piloting one of those things?"

She moved closer to him, and put her head on his shoulder. "It hurts. The Eva is always in pain."

"Huh? It's a machine. How is it in pain?"

"They are not machines," said Rei. "They are alive under their armor. They feel pain. My Eva hurts. She is very sad. She talks to me, sometimes."

"What does she say?"

Rei shivered. "Let me out."

* * *

Asuka walked proudly through the cages in her plugsuit. Though it hugged her like a second skin, clinging to her every curve, it felt like a suit of armor, and she felt powerful when she wore it. With her helmet tucked under her arm she felt a thousand feet tall, taller than the Evas themselves, like the whole world was under her feet. She realized she was grinning and fought to keep her face straight. The Commander was standing at the line. The Ayanami girl was not there; from what Asuka was told, she was in the hospital, following her severe defeat. Shinji was already there, his helmet held under his arm.

"Shinji," said Ikari, "You are in reserve."

"But-"

"Unit one is heavily damaged and the armor is not fully repaired. Von Doom, you're up."

Curtly, he nodded to her, and she nodded back. Asuka respected decorum and discipline, saw the meaning in maintaining a professional distance. To her, allowing Shinji to pilot at all was something of a breach, but given her father's authority and the fact that she'd been though the same training, she grudgingly accept his presence. She was, in her way, fond of him. He just… She looked him up and down, using only her eye. He was… not Mari.

"Good luck," he said sullenly, and turned to head for the ready room.

Asuka nearly bolted for the ladder. Unit Two had not been deployed and was fresh, ready, a warrior in repose. Unit Zero, trapped in its cage, was missing a leg and looked as though it would take a miracle for it to move again. Unit One looked little better, but could have moved if the Commander had so ordered. Asuka knew he would not. Barring one of Shinji's impulsive stunts, which would likely just put him in her way and in danger, she was on her own.

It suited her.

"You're not alone."

Asuka blinked. Akagi, the head of the engineering division, was waiting for her at the elevator. If not for her labcoat and distinctive beauty mark, Asuka would not have known her; she certainly didn't dress correctly. This morning she was wearing a shirt with a lewd word spread tightly over her ample bust and loose exercise pants that had obviously not seen a washing machine for some time, and she looked haggard. That, Asuka could understand.

"What?"

"You have the whole flight crew backing you up. We're here for you and we don't want you to get hurt. I know how hard this has to be, but you can do it."

Asuka stared at her as if she'd started chanting in Latin.

"I see."

They rode up in silence, the elevator scaffold rising in front of the cage. It made Asuka feel even prouder, even taller, as she watched Unit Two sweep before her, as she rose to meet it eye to eye. She hurried to the plug and swung inside, handing off her helmet and taking it back as she began buckling herself in the seat. She lowered the helmet over her head, checked the seal at her neck, and flipped the visor down.

She didn't know how the other pilots managed. The test type and prototype had main screens, like something out of a science fiction film. Her feed was piped directly into her helmet, and the control setup was much more intuitive. She began setting her switches and going over everything to test the function, pushing and turning the yoke.

"Ready to deploy."

"Roger that," said Akagi, chiming in her ear. "Beginning LCL infusion."

Asuka felt the cold liquid seeping in around her, filling the entry plug. She locked her helmet back and waited, bracing herself for synchronization. As much as she hated to admit it, Unit Two had a certain… personality. It was powerful, and needed a firm hand to control it. Synchronization was not the melding the technicians spoke of, but a wrestling match. She felt like it was challenging her, almost, and she had to prove herself to it.

As always, she won in the end, and felt the Eva shifting and moving around her, straining against the bolts. The Commander spoke to her, personally.

"The target is airborne. When you make the surface, retrieve the fusion cannon and set up behind one of the arming shields. I want this over cleanly and quickly. Wait for the computer to approve a firing solution."

"Understood," said Asuka.

Then came the only part she hated. They launched her. It pushed her down in the seat and she felt the great artifice of the Eva shaking around her, the straining muscles of the beast trying to meld with her own. Her helmet compensated when she hit the surface, shading her eyes from the rising sun. She scanned the horizon until she spotted it.

The Commander was right. The damned thing could fly. It moved with an alien, liquid grace, not lumbering at all but twisting through the air in a way that reminded her of the paper dragons the Chinese carried in their parades, the sinuous way fantastic creatures moved in paintings and on flags. It was several times the Eva's height in length and its underside was covered with shuffling, twitching legs that made her think of an enormous insect. Its head, or at least the front of it, was a gradually pointed, armored battering ram. Trailing on either side of it were arms or whips, thin streamers that glowed with their own light.

Asuka cut to the armaments structure and picked up the cannon. It was as tall as the Eva and she had to jack it into the shore power supply, removing the plug into her back and sticking it in the gun's stock. A timer flashed, warning her she had twenty minutes left, plenty of time. The armored plate rose in front of her and she rested the long firing chamber of the weapon on it, locking it into the Eva's shoulder pylon, and the view through her helmet changed to that of the scope. She swept it onto the target.

As if sensing her, it moved, twisting in the air. The reticle swayed, directing her, trying to computer a firing solution.

"It's too fast. I'm going to manual."

There were two triggers. She willed the Eva to pull the lower one with its middle finger, which began the process, superheating the ammunition stored in the gun. A moment later she would fire, launching a miniature fusion bomb at the oncoming Angel. It was still well outside the city, and if she missed she would crater some hills.

She swept the reticle here and there, watching the snake-like Angel twist and turn out of her sights. She played a subtle game with it, leaning its reactions, its movements. She swept the gun right and then as she pulled the upper trigger, snapped it left.

The projectile flashed out, roaring as it shimmered its way across the city in a flat arc, headed for the Angel. The creature twisted, and the projectile nearly grazed it but passed between its coils and landed in the hills, sending up a flash and a rising cloud of smoke and debris. Asuka ground her teeth and began priming for the next shot.

"Stand down the fusion cannon," said Ikari. "It's too close to the city."

He was right. She unshouldered it and simply tossed it on the ground; if Nerv wanted to retrieve the worthless thing, they could do it themselves. Taking up the normal rifle, she brought it around and opened fire. The creature twisted as she fired on it, the shells slipping harmlessly past it. It grew closer and closer, winding its way towards her like a desert snake.

She threw the rifle down in disgust. There was a spear and long blade in the arming tower, better to call it a sword. She would defeat this monster with skill and steel.

Asuka charged.

* * *

Hikari pulled her goggles down over her eyes and perched atop at the corner of a building, clinging to it with her hands and feet. As she stared at the Angel sweeping over the landscape, her overarching thought was a simple one. She was not supposed to be there. As she took it in, saw it move, the dull buzz in the back of her head grew in intensity. What was normally a momentary sensation, a kind of itch, buzzed all around her now, as if she was surrounded by danger.

She fought the urge to run and hide and swung, headed for the residential district first. If there was to be anybody trapped outside the shelters, it would be there. She'd been sort of lucky today; she didn't have to come up with an excuse to leave the shelter, as she hadn't reached school when the alarm went off. Kodama wasn't answering her phone, but she was probably already underground. Hikari couldn't worry about that now. She swung by the elementary school, making sure the grounds were clear, and headed for the apartment blocks.

She turned and landed against a wall when she saw a lone figure walking down the street, dressed in a long coat and a wide-brimmed hat. Hikari crawled down, her back against the wall, and dropped to the street.

There was a boom and she turned to see some smoke lifting up from the hills. The fighting was starting; she should get to shelter herself, soon. She couldn't leave someone outside, though, not after what happened to Toji. She ran towards the man in the coat, calling out to him.

"Hey! Hey, pal! Do you need help?"

He stranger stopped, keeping his eyes on the ground. "You the Spider-Girl?"

"Yeah," said Hikari. "Did you see me on TV?"

"No."

He looked up. He was wearing some kind of metal mask that looked vaguely insectoid in shape, enameled a bright green. He drew his hat off and shrugged out of his coat, and a segmented metal arm lifted up behind him. The end was big and bulbous, and reminded Hikari of a nozzle, like a hose. From one side projected a wicked looking spike.

"I should make some kind of banter about scorpions killing spiders. It's something of a tradition. I'm on the clock, though."

Hikari jumped just in time, twisting in the air to avoid a stream of foul smelling liquid from the end of the armored man's tail. As she landed she saw where the stuff hit, a patch of street smoking and sinking in as the acid ate through it. Hikari turned, blinking.

"Look, I don't know what this is about-"

"It's about money. No hard feelings."

He ran at her. Hikari started to move, but she didn't figure on him being so fast. He tackled her, put his shoulder into her gut, and pushed her right through a brick wall. She saw stars and heard the musical tinkling of falling bricks clattering together around her, and only the tugging buzz at the back of her head made her move out of the way in time to avoid the spike. The segmented tail came down and the metal spike buried itself in the floor of the florist's shop right where her head had been.

Standing up, the armored man lifted her up with him, her feet dangling from the floor, and trapped her arms at her sides. He squeezed, crushing the air out of her, and she tried to scream but the only sound that came out was a low gurgle.

She headbutted him. Her forehead crunched against his armor, and she was afraid it hurt her more than it did him, but he stumbled and his grip slackened enough for her to wriggle out. He caught her foot as she climbed over him but she slipped out of her boot and landed in the street with one foot booted and one bare, her tights starting to rip.

Time to think. She couldn't close with this guy. She jumped as he fired another stream of acid at her. She could keep her distance, keep avoiding the corrosive gunk, hoping he would run out. He came at her fast, dropping on all fours. He was too strong, and she didn't think it came from the armor. She turned and bolted, darting up the side of the building behind her.

The Scorpion followed, digging his clawed fingertips into the bricks. He wasn't as fast as she was, and that was her only advantage. She tossed out a webline, only for a stream of acid to cut it, and headed for the roof instead. She darted over it and turned, but he didn't follow her. She froze, waiting, glancing from side to side.

He rushed her. She moved, but not quite in time. The blade lanced along her side, slicing through her sweatshirt, and sent her off balance. She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the heel of his boot landing where her head had been, and webbed his foot to the ground. He casually leaned down and swept his claws over the webbing, and pulled his foot up.

"Oh come _on,"_ Hikari shouted, clutching her burning side.

"Look, sweetheart, we can make this quick. I can go all day, but I'd like to have time for another job."

Hikari blinked. "At what, the jerk factory?"

"Jerk factory? _Jerk factory?_ You're no Peter Parker, chickie. Give it up."

Hikari backed away from him. Her side was burning. She might need stitches, and she definitely needed to clean it. It slowed her down, too; she could feel it. Glancing around, she spotted the roof access door, and bolted for it. The Scorpion stared at her for a second, and then followed.

She had to be fast. She ripped the door off and jumped through, using her free hand to grab the railings and weave between them. She hit the wall three flights down and fired a web, and then another, and another, filling the hall with silvery strands. The Scorpion bolted down the stairs and ran into the webs, and started slicing through them, but she hit him with more and jumped behind him. He turned and twisted in the layers of webbing covering his limbs, snarling at her, and swung his tail. She ducked, letting it pass over her head, and it buried itself in the wall, the spike stuck in the concrete. As he began to pull it back, she webbed it in place, and then jumped over it, coming down beside him.

She rabbit punched the back of his head, hard. He let out a yelp and she felt the metal of his armor plating crumple, but he kept moving.

"I'm stronger than you are, little chickie, and faster."

Hikari brought a knife hand down on the joint of his tail, hard as she could. It hurt, hitting the metal, but her hand crashed through it, twisting metal and wires and motors out of the way. The Scorpion was freeing himself, and swung at her, but he was still hung up. She pushed her shoulder against the wall and put both feet on his head and pushed it against the wall, trapping his arm in a lock, and webbed his head in place.

Snarling, he wriggled his arm free and swiped at her. Hikari ducked it, then jumped, turned in the air, and hung by her feet from the stairs above. She caught his hand and twisted his arm out into a lock, using her leverage and full body strength. He would have the other one out soon, so she had to think quickly.

"Give up," said Hikari. "I've got you."

"No. Nothing personal, sweetheart, but-"

His last word turned into a scream as Hikari broke his arm. She turned and used her weight, pushing his elbow until it popped out of joint, then let go and as he pulled his head from the wall, kicked him back into it. His sagging arm fell by his side and he screamed incoherently, twisting in the webs. She spun with both hands, pinning his wounded arm against him, wincing at the injury.

She started peeling off the armor. She got her fingers under one joint, then another, pulling the plates up. She used yet more webs, pulling his legs together. He could slice at them with his fingers, but had no leverage to do any more. She stepped back, panting.

"Fine," he grunted, "You win. You gonna kill me?"

"No," Hikari breathed, clutching her side.

"Why the hell not?"

"I'm just not."

Pulling him free of the wall, she dragged him back outside, pulling his broken tail along with him.

She knew _exactly _what to do.

* * *

She knew the light whips were dangerous. Asuka learned this when one scythed right through the haft of her spear, leaving her with a stick in one hand. She tossed it aside and took in the sword in a two-handed grip, keeping it between her and the creature. Seeing it more closely now, it reminded her even more of a dragon. Worse it was _cautious_. Unlike its predecessor it did not blindly seek to engage her, but was hanging back. She unfolded her AT-Field, willing the Eva's expansive energies to warp around it, testing the creature to see what it would do.

What it did, was let out a keening wail of fury and charge directly at her. She swung the sword but it clattered off the thick armor of the beast's battering-ram head, turning, and it was on her. The creature slammed into Unit Two's midsection and shoved her back, pushing the air out of her lungs as it did, and her head spun from the sudden movement. She turned, put her foot out to turn her fall into a sweeping sword-swing, but the Angel was already there. Its light-whip laced around her ankle and pulled, dragging Unit Two off its feet.

Asuka's eyes flew open as she realized what was happening. She swung the sword straight at the whip, meaning to cut herself free. The blade hummed as the vibrational mechanism spun up, and she put all her might in the twist. The whip simply cut through it.

Her swing severed her own blade, the light whip gliding through it as though it were butter. She squirmed in the seat, feeling heat rising in her leg, and kicked at it with her other foot, ramming the halved section of blade up. It skimmed over the creature's armor and now damaged, shattered, shards of metal skittering harmlessly off the combatants.

Asuka twisted, turning, and kneed into the whip, drying to drag the creature to ground with her. It pulled free, the thin limb slipping out from under her, and both whips looped around and around Unit Two's throat, and began to squeeze. She released the controls, clawing at her throat. It felt like a burning iron was pressing to her flesh, and her throat closed. She saw stars, yanking her helmet against the restraining bolt. The gauges were going wild, and red lines appeared in the miniature Eva in the corner of her eye, warning her of the throat damage. The Angel was cutting off Unit Two's head.

_I can still breathe. It's not me_.

She tried to tell herself, but it _was_ her. She felt the creature's pain as if it was her own and as she willed her hands to grasp the controls, her body refused.

_Burn it_.

She tried to croak out a word, to tell herself she couldn't.

_Burn it, Asuka._

She couldn't. If she touched the fire her, she would kill herself. She couldn't.

_Burn it, child of Doom. Prove yourself. _

Her teeth clenched, and she felt a scream of rage burning in her chest, trapped by the cords around her throat. She put her hands on the control yoke without thinking and simply shoved it, not knowing or caring what would happen if she did. The Eva's hands slammed to Earth and pushed back, launching her into the creature. It wailed, and its grasp on her loosened. Her throat still burning, she turned, further wrapping herself in its embrace, and ran, leaning into it.

Unit Two's sprint carried it. From the corner of her eye she saw.

The school.

The shelter.

Mari.

Asuka shrieked.

The wail tore out of her throat, the white-hot cords vanishing in an instant. It meant to _burn her?_ She hugged the Angel, grasping its barrel body in Unit Two's arms, and plunged into the run, carrying it away from the city, away from the school.

_Mine mine mine she makes me happy_

The other voice was in her ear. _Kill it! Kill it! Daughter of Doom!_

She put all her might into the Eva's legs, pushed, and dragged the beast to Earth. They landed together in the hills, twisting. It was shrieking again, trying to pull free of her grasp, now. She felt lines of heat over her chest, her legs, her arms as it lashed her, tried to tear her apart, but she was too busy crying out in fury. She grabbed her helmet and tore it off, the seal ripping away from her throat, and threw it into the plug. LCL gushed around her, cool and tangy and coppery foul, and it slid down her throat and into her lungs, the sudden fullness like a deep cold. She knew she could breathe it and that was enough.

Unit Two was atop the angel. She laced her fingers together, raised her arms overhead, and slammed them into the Angel's core, racking and slamming the control yokes in unison with the Eva's movement. The creature writhed beneath her, desperate to cast her off. Its burning whips were sinking into the Eva's chest, sections of armor plate toppling off as it cut towards the creature's flesh. The core resisted her, deforming with each strike, shuddering under her blows. She was screaming and screaming.

She felt its flesh as her fingers plunged through it. She grabbed the core and wrenched it loose, licking her lips ferally as the armored sections popped around it, feeling its body giving way and distending as she ripped out its very essence. Her teeth felt sharp. Her blood thundered in her veins, burned. She was holding the core above the limp form of the creature, closing her hands around it. She pushed her elbows out and put all her might into it, pushing the yokes together so hard they were creaking, the metal squealing.

The core burst. The world went white, and she felt herself falling, falling. She pulled the emergency release and felt the sudden, sharp pain of the synchronization breaking and as it left her, she felt hollow, used up. As it hit the ground, the Eva spat out the entry plug. She was tossed from side to side, her soaked hair whipping around her head as it jounced and bounced and finally slid to a stop.

A moment later, she pushed the hatch open, stumbled onto the grass beside her prostrate Eva, and retched in the grass, bringing up a lungful of LCL that she struggled to replace all at once as she fell to the ground and passed out.

* * *

Shinji sat in the ready room, holding his helmet between his legs and staring at a can of soda he hadn't opened yet. He didn't have the nerve to listen to the feeds and hear how Asuka was doing. There was no way he could take Unit One out in the fight. In failing to save Rei, he may have doomed Asuka as well. When Gendo walked into the room, he winced.

"Is it over?" said Shinji.

"Yes."

"Good," he sighed, and started to get up.

"Tell me her name."

Shinji froze. "What?"

"The girl. Tell me her name."

Shinji blinked a few times, and lowered his helmet onto the seat beside him. "What girl?"

Gendo surged into his face, pressing him against the wall with a hand grasping the collar of his suit. "Don't play games with me. _Tell me the girl's name."_

"No."

Gendo's eyes narrowed. "What did you say?"

"It's none of your business."

Shinji stiffened, pushing away from the wall. He used a little trick he learned at Castle von Doom. There was iron in blood, and his blood, and his tissues, had much more than the average person. He could make himself a little stronger, but pushing it drained his reserves fast. He stood up and very slowly pulled Gendo's hand away from his neck.

"Do you have any idea what you're jeopardizing?"

"Natalie Summers was at our house again last night, wasn't she?"

Gendo blinked. "What? That's-"

"It _is_ the point. If you can get away with it, so can I."

Shinji shouldered past him. He motioned his hand and slid the table out of the way and reached out, tugging the soda can through the air to his palm, and with a flick of mental effort popped the top. It was all show; he was tired from giving himself enough of a boost to push back. His father was _strong_, stronger than he looked, scarily so. He took a drink and when he was outside the ready room he sagged against the wall for a moment, then hurried for the nearest elevator.

* * *

Asuka scrubbed the LCL out of her hair, shuddering at the stench. It smelled _foul_. Fortunately, she had the locker room to herself; even before her injuries, Ayanami never seemed to use it. She had an array of products for dealing with the unfortunate circumstance of the foul smelling sludge staining her coiffure. It landed at her feet with wet slaps and drifted into the drain on the floor, like chocolate syrup in an old black and white horror picture. The fact that she could tolerate scalding hot water without feeling it and will her internal body temperature to rise certainly helped.

When she was clean, or sufficiently clean that she no longer smelled the stuff, she left the showers and toweled off. She had a spare uniform in her locker, but she eschewed that in favor of a sun dress she rarely wore, dumping it over her head. She could still feel the tight cords around her throat. A phantom feeling of choking haunted her, unwilling to leave her be. She shook her head until it was forgotten and walked out of the cage.

Fuyutsuki was outside. The Executive Officer was making a show of chatting with one of the technicians, until he saw her.

"Sir," she said, feeling odd as she stood at attention in a frilly yellow dress. She should have worn the uniform.

"Your Grace," said Fuyutsuki. "I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Forgive my impertinence. I see you're quite alright. I should be going."

"Wait," she said.

He looked over his shoulder. "I knew your mother. You look just like her."

She tried to say something, but something quickened the old man's step and he was abruptly gone, turning down a hall with his nose pinched between his fingers. Asuka was left, staring. She walked in a daze, dismissing cheers and claps as she made her way to the elevator and to the motor pool. When they saw her coming, the Section 2 men tried to make themselves scarce. She motioned for the first one she saw, taking no preference, and raised the glass shield in the car without comment as she slipped inside.

The ride back was uneventful. Most of the city was still in combat configuration, and would be for hours, and the whole of it was hazed with rain. She saw Unit Two's crimson armor in the distance, visible even from afar, lying in repose on the hill where she'd vanquished the creature.

When Asuka stepped out of the car, Mari was already there, running down the steps, heedless of the rain soaking her mismatched clothes. She threw her arms around Asuka and lifted her up, until her toes tangled above the ground.

"Someone will see us," Asuka croaked.

"Are you hurt?" Mari demanded, lowering her to the ground.

"No!" Asuka snapped. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Your neck. Those marks…"

"I'm _fine. _I want a nap."

Mari walked inside her with her, stopping to sweep the water out of her locks with her fingers. Asuka did the same. A few of the boys from the second floor were milling around, and seemed particularly interested as she lifted her arms over her head to sweep the moisture from her hair, but a growl from Mari sent them running. Asuka paid them no mind and hurried back to their room. Once inside, she slammed the door shut and crawled up onto the bed, slipped her shoes off, and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"You're not okay," said Mari.

Asuka stared out the window. "It talked."

"What?"

"My Eva. It _spoke_ to me."

Mari blinked, ears twitching. "I don't-"

Asuka's face scrunched and she clawed at her throat, suddenly struggling to breathe. Mari rushed to the bedside and crawled alongside her, draping her arms over Asuka's shoulders.

"It's over. You'll be okay."

"I'm fine," said Asuka.

Mari pulled her close. "Liar."

"Stop it."

Mari began to sing softly, whispering in Asuka's ear. "_Time to face the day, time to make it snappy-" _

"I said, stop it," Asuka snorted, stifling a laugh.

* * *

Toji hadn't been awake for the last one.

Every time something happened, whatever it was, he could feel the house swaying around him, and Rei pushed against him, as if she could hide under his shoulder. The rippling booms like thunder followed the creaking and groaning in the house's bones, and the rolling of the floor under them. He was starting to think that staying outside was a very, very bad idea. Rei's eyes were huge and she cringed every time there was a flash of light through the windows.

Then, without warning or explanation, it was just over. The noises and shaking stopped, and a strange peace descended on the house. The only thing Toji could hear was the soft sound of Rei breathing. He looked down and realized she'd pushed into his side and thrown her arms around his chest, and was looking around with her big, strange eyes.

"Is it over?" said Toji.

"I think it is," said Rei.

Toji sat up, gently pushing her arms away. It wasn't right. He couldn't take advantage of her like that. He wasn't taking advantage, she was just scared. She hugged herself instead, drawing up onto the couch. Toji got up and looked out the windows. The city was deserted, and all the lights were off, even though the clouds rolling it made it dark enough for street lamps.

"How long before everyone starts coming out?" said Toji.

"Hours," said Rei. "The Eva has to be recovered first."

Toji rubbed his jaw. "What if we go outside for a while?"

"Why?"

"You've been in here for over a week."

Rei shrugged. "I was on the roof, once."

"You need some air."

"There is air in here," she said, her voice wavering.

"It's okay. Nobody is going to get you."

She didn't protest anymore. He found a pair of Sakura's sneakers and Rei fumbled with the laces before glancing at his and figuring them out, and he gave her an old hooded sweatshirt. She pulled the hood up and tucked her strangely colored hair under it. As she sank into the hood the light caught her eyes, so they nearly glowed. Toji opened the door, which he realized now he'd broken earlier, and took her by the hand. Fortunately, he'd forgotten to use the dead bolt that morning, so the door could still be locked. He left it open. There was no one else out.

Rei kept her hands in the sleeves of her hoodie and hugged herself as she walked down the front steps onto the sidewalk. Toji followed just behind her. Once she stepped from the wooden step onto the concrete, she shifted slightly, dropped her arms, and drew in a breath.

"It smells wet," said Rei.

It did smell wet.

Toji walked out into the middle of the street and she followed him, a though she was invisibly tethered to his hand. Rei jumped as she heard the hiss that preceded the beginning of the rainfall. It began in a sudden torrent, like a great cosmic shower head had been switched on. Toji blinked and stared up into it; the rain falling in his eyes no longer bothered him.

Rei pushed her hood back, and closed her eyes as the rain soaked into her hair. It ran down her cheeks like tears and streamed over her nose and soft, pale lips and she smiled quietly to herself, swaying slightly in the rising breeze. Toji gaped at her for a moment, then realized he was staring and closed his mouth.

He didn't stop staring.


	9. The Best Defense, Part 1

_Previously on…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_When the Fourth Angel arrived, Asuka was tasked with defeating it, with Shinji's Eva out of commission from damage suffered in the previous battle. After her ranged weapons failed, she was forced to fight the creature hand to hand, and something awoke in the Eva, speaking to her and urging her to use her abilities in the fight. _

_Meanwhile, Toji and Rei hid from the fight and from Nerv, remaining above ground during the battle. Rei's Eva speaks to her, too… _

_Gendo confronted Shinji, demanding the name of the girl he's been seeing. Shinji refused to divulge Hikari's name, but was shocked by his father's strength._

* * *

"**THE BEST DEFENSE"**

_Part 1_

* * *

Gendo stood in his en-suite bathroom, a razor clutched in his hand. On the counter in front of him was a newspaper, and on that newspaper was a photograph of a man hanging upside down in front of a police station, bound up in a considerable amount of spider-webs, with the broken remnants of a mechanical tail hanging next to him. Police surrounded the figure, staring up in shock. The story covered the entire front page of the paper.

Slowly, glassy-eyed, Gendo lifted the razor. Summers appeared behind him in a loose, open robe, and caught his wrist.

"Careful, dear," she whispered in his ear, "Let's not hurt ourselves."

He stood stock still as she gathered shaving foam on her palm and began to rub it into his beard, her hand moving over his throat. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, her pale skin and long coal black hair were gone, and a short woman with delicate features was standing behind him in the same robe, her chestnut hair all afrizz from lying in bed. She blinked her big green eyes and he smiled stupidly.

"Good morning, dear," Yui said, releasing his wrist.

Slowly, he began to shave. He stopped, the blade pressed to his neck. "Good morning, dear."

"Shave it all off," said Yui. "I hate it."

Gendo smiled stupidly and tilted his head back, scraping the foam riddled hair away, pass after pass until he was nicking away a few straggling clumps of foam. Yui's chest touched his back as she patted his chin and neck dry, and patted on his aftershave. She closed her eyes and smelled him, chin on his shoulder, and he stared stupidly into the mirror, shifting slightly on his feet, knowing something was deeply wrong, and didn't care.

Her arms snaked around his stomach, and her eyes were red. "I need to talk to you about Shinji," said Yui. "He's been a very bad boy."

Gendo nodded dumbly. "Yes. He has."

"He's defiant."

"Yes, defiant," said Gendo.

"He's spoiling everything with that girl," said Yui.

"Yes, he ruins everything," said Gendo.

"I want you to find that girl," said Yui.

"Yes, my dear," said Gendo.

"Make her suffer."

"Yes."

"Kill her."

"Yes."

He blinked again, and Summers was embracing him from behind. "The activation test for Unit Zero isn't for another two hours, darling. Come to bed. Mommy needs hurricane Gendo to crash on her shores."

Gendo's eyes went flat, and he turned around, taking her hand as she led him back into the bedroom.

* * *

Rei was back. She looked shell shocked, which Ritsuko expected, but there was an odd quality to the way she carried herself, as if everything around her was new. She walked in a fidgety, unsure way, as if she had spent too long off her feet. Ritsuko supposed she had. Ritsuko moved to speak with her, but she found a cold hand on her shoulder, and Natalie Summers glaring at her.

"Out of my way," said Ritsuko, her words echoing through the vast space of the cage.

"I don't think so," said Summers, curling into a smile. "Ikari promoted me from acting to official flight surgeon. You won't be dealing with the pilots anymore, Akagi. Push me on this and I'll have your job."

Ritsuko's eyes narrowed. "I see."

Summers smirked at her and led Rei away, towards the scaffold elevator that would carry her up to the Eva. It was only a test, to make sure that the newly grafted leg and other repairs were functioning properly, but it made Ritsuko nervous. She looked up at the empty cage and felt odd, like she was staring through a stained glass window. Zero had been moved to the testing cage, away from the other Evas, in case it rejected the grafts and became violent.

Maya appeared beside her, carrying her tablet and papers. "That woman gives me the willies."

"Join the club," said Ritsuko. "Come on, we have to get to the cage and make sure this doesn't go ass over teakettle."

Maya winced at the profanity, as was Maya's habit, and followed her. The testing cage was a much older facility, and rather than being immersed in LCL until it was ready to deploy, Unit Zero was in a crouching position, held in place by enormous struts and chains attached to its shoulder pylons, waist, and wrist. The control room and observation platform were high above, roughly at the Eva's eye level.

The replacement leg and armor were all still primer gray, lacking the iridescent outer enamel, giving it a patchwork look. Summers was walking Rei out to the test plug. Ritsuko watched from the ground, folding her arms under her chest. Summers hauled Rei closer by the collar of her plugsuit and said something to her that made the girl shudder before she crawled into the plug and Summers slammed the door closed behind her. Ritsuko wished she could hear it.

She blinked. She _could _hear it. She controlled the MAGI, and they were monitoring everything. She hurried to the elevator, Maya in tow.

"I feel sorry for Rei," said Maya. "To go through all that, and then…"

"Yeah," said Ritsuko. "I'm going to talk to Ikari. I have to do something about this. That woman isn't fit to take care of a goldfish."

Maya nodded defiantly, as if Summers could see her.

Ritsuko felt a twinge in her back and winced as the elevator opened onto the observation platform. She stumbled, and Maya let out a little gasp. Commander Ikari was there.

He _shaved_.

Maya leaned over. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's kind of hot," she whispered, covering her mouth.

Ritsuko nodded dully. She was about to march up to him when Summers appeared at his side, her long black hair pulled out of its ponytail and her glasses hanging from her shirt, which she'd unbuttoned almost down to her belly button. She put an arm around his waist and he stiffened as she whispered in his ear, and a kind of dull smile formed on his face.

"That is the creepiest thing ever," said Ritsuko, quietly. "Come on, let's get to our posts."

Ritsuko walked right past them without looking, but some instinct made her sniff the air as she passed, and Summers sent her a look, stepping away from Ikari. Everyone else was in position. This all should have been very routine, but the other pilots were on standby; she'd seen them taking up positions in the ready room. She slid behind a terminal and logged in, waiting for her personal preference to load. She glanced at Summers' reflection in the monitor and ground her teeth as the woman stood over the rest of them as though she were in charge.

She thought about talking to Fuyutsuki, but the man was a shell.

The power jack was being installed. Without an arc reactor in place, the Eva needed shore power to activate and move, and it served as a safety function. Blow the jack, and the Eva would run out of power and freeze.

"Initialize the power-up. Let's make sure everything is wired up correctly," Ritsuko said, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

It was Maya's job to input the actual commands. "Powering up."

The Eva twitched as the servos and its muscles gained enough power to tense, and suddenly it was no longer resting in place but deliberately crouching. It would do so until it synchronized, needing an actual mind to command it.

Until, very slowly, the head swiveled to the side, just enough for the single massive lens to turn a bit towards the observation platform. Everyone in the room froze.

"There's a power differential in the neck joints," said Maya.

Ritsuko let out a slow breath. "Okay, note that, we'll work on it."

Summers leaned over the console and keyed the microphone. "Rei, we're beginning."

She stepped back, and Ritsuko nodded at Maya. They began the process together, but something happened. The Eva twitched and there was a massive data dump from the Eva. Ritsuko looked around, and glanced at Maya, who went wide eyed. Quickly, she saved the file to her personal directory. It looked like gibberish, but it might mean something. The dump stopped as the Eva's systems came online, and it was time for the actual synch to begin.

"Passing absolute borderline," said Maya. "Stage one connections are… wait."

Ritsuko glanced at her and then pulled up the synchrograph. It was going wild.

"Shut it down," Ritsuko shouted, "Pull the plug!"

"What's happening?" Summers demanded, storming over to her station.

"See for yourself."

The Eva howled, the sound rumbling under the muffling helmet, and strained against its restraints, trying to stand up. It managed to twist and face the chamber, scanning. Summer's eyes widened and she stepped back, the Eva's head swiveling as if it were following her movement.

"Is Ayanami synched with it?"

"No," said Maya, "It's moving on its own!"

"Impossible," Summers snapped.

"Is it?" said Ritsuko. "We've already seen-"

The Eva bellowed again and curled its arms, pulling against the chains. The left arm tore free, chain links the size of small cars bending and snapping as it lifted up, curled a fist, and slammed into the wall. It shifted again, drawing its fist back with chunks of concrete and a cloud of dust, and took another swing. Ritsuko jumped back, dragging Maya away from her station as the fist tented the safety glass in.

The plug blew, rockets firing to push it away, and the Eva moved more frantically, as if it knew it had no time left. It swung again and again, huffing and bellowing, then reared back, clutching its head.

"What's happening?" Summers demanded. She'd fallen on her backside and was scrambling to her feet, brushing her hair out of her face. "Why isn't it shutting down?"

The Eva took a step back, shook its head, and surged forward again.

Summers pushed Ritsuko out of the way. Ritsuko had no prayer of stopping her, and she sent Ritsuko skidding across the floor as if she weighed nothing at all. She jammed the eject switch and there was a howl as the Eva's head snapped forward, its spine severed by explosive bolts, and the plug came rocketing out, driven in a spiral as one of the ejection rockets misfired. It slammed into the wall with a loud clang as the Eva fell, spiraling into the corner, and then fell the entire distance from the top of the chamber to the hard floor and bounced, the middle folding like paper as it hit the ground.

Ritsuko ran, skipped the elevator and went for the stairs, taking them two at a time, the others following her. She nearly tripped, kicked out of her heels and broke into a flat run in her stocking feet across the cage floor, ignoring the looming, crumpled form of the Eva behind her, and ran up to the entry plug.

She grabbed the manual hatch release, but it was too hot. She looped her labcoat over her hands and grabbed it again, pulling hard, digging her heels in. Her back screamed at her, but she ignored it, gritting her teeth. Maya appeared next to her and grabbed the handle alongside her, and it began to move, pulling out. When it levered into position it broke the seal and the hatch slammed open from the overpressure as LCL poured out like blood from a wood, welling around their feet. Ritsuko climbed inside.

Rei lay on her side, the restraints that held her helmet in place broken. He head lolled, and the inside of the glass faceplate was covered in blood, fanned out from a large crack. Gingerly, Ritsuko pulled the plate away, not wanting to risk removing the helmet before the medics arrived.

The girls' eyes were dull, and swiveled up to look at her. One eye was crusted shut with blood and made her face tic when she tried to blink.

"We'll get you out," said Ritsuko, touching the girl's cheek.

"No," she rasped, "It's better."

"You're going to be okay," said Ritsuko.

"Out of my way!" Summers shouted, moving towards the plug.

"Fuck off," Ritsuko shouted back, and turned back to Rei.

"I don't want her to take me back," Rei said, her voice barely a whisper. "It's okay. She's didn't mean it."

"Who?" said Ritsuko.

"The lady in the Eva," said Rei.

Ritsuko froze. "What did you say?"

"She can't…" Rei coughed, and thick black blood surged over her lower lip. "Can't get me now."

Ritsuko scrambled to get her helmet of, pulling at the girl's hair, matted with gore and stuck to the inside. She cradled Rei's bloodied head on her chest and held her, wincing as she gasped for air. Shaking, she slipped her fingers to Rei's throat and pressed. There was no pulse.

"Where are the God damn medics?" Ritsuko shouted.

"She's dead," said Summers. "Get out of the plug. I'll need to autopsy her."

Ritsuko looked at her, and at the dead girl in her arms, and back again, and stumbled out of the plug.

She punched Summers in the face. Her head swiveled to the side but all she did was smirk as Ritsuko drew back her hand, holding it. It was like punching a sack of flour, and she thought she'd done more damage to her knuckles than Summers.

"You're too emotional," said Summers.

"You miserable bitch," Ritsuko snapped.

Ritsuko stumbled away from her, took three steps, and fell on her hands and knees, her breakfast trying to escape through her throat. Maya dropped down next to her, shying away from Summers as she stepped up to the plug and casually surveyed the damage. Gendo and the others walked up. Ikari took it all in passively.

Summers looked back at him, and her eyes came into sharp focus. Ritsuko felt something in the air tighten, and she felt shivers run up and down her limbs.

"Unit Zero will be locked with a restraining plug and sealed in Bakelite until it can be dismantled." He said in a flat monotone, and walked off.

Ritsuko gaped. She looked up at the Eva, still fallen in the corner, clutching its head and staring with one great eye-lens, locked on the broken plug. The way it curled up as it fell, it almost looked human, as if it wished to hide from what it had done.

As Summers strode away at Gendo's side, she thought she saw the woman smiling.

* * *

Toji woke up when Rei started screaming. His eyes flew open and he bolted out of Sakura's room, bounced against the wall and pushed his door open. Rei was curled up on the bed, weeping and screaming. When he put his arms around her she batted at him for a moment, her eyes glassy and unfocused. After a moment she seemed to realize who he was and where she was, and crushed against him, shoving herself into his embrace. He sat on the bed with her, staring blankly while she sobbed into his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he finally managed, trying to keep his voice even.

"They killed her," said Rei. "They killed Six."

Toji held her more tightly, until he was afraid he would hurt her, but she drew her legs up and pressed against him, gasping and struggling for breath.

"It was just a dream."

"It wasn't," she said, "I saw it. I felt it. The plug was crushed. She hit her head."

"You had a nightmare," Toji said in his most soothing voice, "It happens. You're okay. You're fine."

Rei sniffed. "It was real. I know it was real."

"Okay," he said. "Okay. I'm sorry."

"It was real," said Rei. "I felt her."

"I believe you," Toji said, rocking her. "What do you mean, Six?"

"The next clone," said Rei. "I'm number five."

Toji shuddered, and then his eyes widened. "If you're five, then what about the others?"

Rei stared into space, and didn't answer him. Toji felt his teeth grinding, and her head jerked up. She slid away from him and stood up, resting her hand on the wall. Toji walked out into the hallway and scrubbed his hands through his hair, and took a sharp breath. He hadn't done his homework in two weeks and he'd had to explain to Dad why the front door was broken, come up with something that would keep him from calling the police. He finally made up a plausible excuse, that he'd forgotten his keys in the rush to the shelter.

She was sitting back on the bed. Toji sat down next to her, trying to figure out what to do. She kept shaking and wincing, pressing her eyes tightly shut for a second and shivering.

"Has this happened before?"

She shook her head. "There is usually only one of us out a time."

"Does that mean they've stopped looking for you?"

She looked at him, her expression suddenly hopeful. "Maybe."

* * *

Shinji ran from the pilot's ready room, leaving his helmet behind. Asuka called his name but he ignored her, barreling down the hallway as technicians and staff pushed out of his way. He didn't even think about the door to the cages. It just yanked off its hinges with a terrible metal squeal and went bouncing ahead of him, drawing yelps and angered shouts from the techs on the cage floor. He ran until his lungs burned.

Doctor Akagi saw him as he ran for the testing cage. She tackled him and they fell to the ground together, drawing a grunt from her as she rolled on her back. He started to stand, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, wincing sharply as she stood up, and put her arms around him.

"Don't go."

"Rei!" he shouted, trying to shake out of her grasp.

"Shinji, don't look," she said, trying to turn his head away. "Don't look."

Two techs were carrying a stretcher out of the cage. The body lying on it was covered in a sheet, and dark blood seeped through at the head and side. Shinji stared, his mouth opening and closing without words. He pushed away from Akagi and got up, running for the stretcher. The techs stared at him, but there was nothing he could do. He pulled the sheet back and screamed, throwing his hands over his face, as if he could blot out the image of Rei's bloodless skin and the matted wound on her head before he saw it.

Akagi seized him around the waist and dragged him away. He sagged against her, his head pushing into her chest, and sobbed like a baby.

"What happened?" Asuka said quietly, trotting up behind him.

"There was an accident during the activation test," Akagi said, her voice hollow and scratchy.

With one hand, she covered Rei's face, and the technicians carried her away again. She was so small lying on the board, so light that two men didn't have to strain to carry her.

Haltingly, as if she didn't quite know what she was doing, Asuka put her hand on his back, between his shoulder blades. He expected to recoil from her touch, but it was almost soothing. Akagi ran her fingers through his hair and shushed him, nodding at the girl. She led Shinji away, through the cage, an arm around his shoulders. He could feel the metal struts running through the floor under his feet, in the walls around him, even running up Akagi's back.

He sniffed and rubbed at his nose, wincing at the feel of the slick plugsuit under it. "Why do you have metal in your back?"

"It's broken," said Akagi. "I need it to walk. I'm part machine now," she glanced at the Evas, "Like them."

Shinji nodded dully, not really understanding, and stood with her in the elevator while it went up. The engineering division was mostly empty, most of the techs still working on the Eva, as she led him through the labs and into her office and closed the door. He sagged into a chair and at the floor, wordlessly letting the tears flow.

Akagi sat down next to him.

He glanced at the desk. There was an urn sitting on it, against the window that looked out into the offices.

"What's that?"

"My mother," Akagi sighed.

Shinji looked at her. Her eyes were lined with red and her cheeks were puffy, as if she'd been crying too. She scrubbed under her nose with the back of her hand and looked away from him, trying to compose himself. He remembered the last time it was like this. When his mother died, all the adults tried not to look sad in front of him for some reason.

"You look like her," said Shinji.

Akagi smiled weakly. "She adored you, you know."

Shinji nodded numbly. "What happened to Rei? Why did she die?"

Akagi was taken aback by the question, then settled into her seat.

"We started up the Eva and it went berserk, started attacking the control room. We shut it down, and Summers hit the eject… God."

"What?" said Shinji.

Akagi shuddered. "Summers hit the eject, and the plug hit the wall. That must be when she was hurt. No one could survive that."

Shinji hugged himself and leaned over, staring at the floor. Summers.

"I hate her," said Shinji.

Akagi blinked, and ran her hand down his back, trying to soothe him. "I know, she-"

"She killed Rei," said Shinji. "She's in my house all the time."

"Wait," said Ritsuko. "What?"

"She practically lives with us now. I don't want to go home. I can't stand her."

Akagi pulled him close and hugged him, pulling his head onto her shoulder. He put his arms around her and closed his eyes. She was almost like his mother, warm and soft, even if his mother never wore band t-shirts and ratty jeans. She smelled like Naoko, like cigarettes and coffee and something else he couldn't identify.

"You're a really brave kid," she said, squeezing him a little tighter. "You don't deserve this."

"I'm not brave," he said, pulling away from her. "If I was brave, I would do something about it."

"You can't," said Akagi. "Sometimes, you lose. People die, the world keeps turning, and life goes on."

Shinji looked at the urn. "Really?"

"Sometimes, life goes on," Akagi said, very softly, very quietly. "Sometimes the dead need our help. Sometimes, we have to avenge them."

Shinji nodded. "I don't want to go home."

"I can understand that, but I imagine your father and that woman will be here for a while. You should have some time to yourself."

"You don't like her, do you?"

"Don't like isn't strong enough," said Ritsuko. "I told you, I didn't want you involved with this stuff. You have enough to worry about as it is."

"I am involved," said Shinji. He made a fist. I could…"

Ritsuko winced. "Shinji, you can't do that. I hate her guts, but she scares me, too. I wonder, sometimes, if she's not… like you."

"You mean a mutant," said Shinji.

Ritsuko frowned. "I didn't mean it that way."

"I know," Shinji said, and stood up.

"Why don't you talk to Asuka?"

"No," he said, firmly.

Akagi sighed. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

He nodded.

"I knew it. Women have a built in detector. I can sense teenage infatuation at fifty yards."

Shinji smiled a little. He didn't feel like screaming anymore, but he felt a hollow in his middle, like his innards had gone cold.

"Thank you, Doctor Akagi."

"Call me Ritsuko, Shinji. If my mother was like your aunt, that makes me your cousin, right?"

He stared at her. "I guess," he said, finally, and scratched his head.

"Call your girl," said Ritsuko. "Here, use my phone, it's encrypted, so no one will be able to listen in. I'll step out."

She stood up and left him in her office, and he dialed Hikari's number, trying to keep his breathing even while he waited for her to pick up. It clicked over to the voice mail twice before she finally answered.

"Shinji?" Hikari said, breathless. "Are you okay?"

He blinked a few times. "Yeah, I'm… no."

She sighed. "Was there an accident or something?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"You're not going to believe this. I'm not making fun of you, I promise."

"Okay," he said, staring out the window. Ritsuko was talking angrily with her assistant, gesturing wildly. Shinji turned away from them.

"Spiders told me," said Hikari.

Shinji stared at the phone. "What?"

"I can, um, talk to them," said Hikari. "It's not really talking, but they… it's complicated."

"Seriously?" said Shinji.

"Yeah," she said. He could imagine her looking around nervously from the tone of her voice. Imagining her big brown eyes and gentle smile made him feel better. With her voice in his ear it was like lying next to her, and he let out a slow breath. She went on. "They talk to each other, somehow. I can pick up on it. I haven't tried talking back, but there's like a… a web. There's a web everywhere and I can…"

She trailed off, then said, "Oh. Oh God."

"What?"

"There's an Angel coming," Hikari breathed.

* * *

Asuka clutched the phone to her ear.

"Be quiet and listen to me," Mari said on the other end.

Asuka didn't have to make an effort to be quiet. She felt like there was a dry lump of flower in her throat. She'd barely spoken to the Ayanami girl, barely registered her existence, but seeing her broken body and bloodied face as she was carried out of the testing cage unnerved her, without quite knowing why. It made her pace in the ready room. She'd called Mari almost out of reflex.

The phone trilled, and Asuka realized Mari was purring into it. Hearing the sound instantly made her relax, the tension sliding out of her as though it would pool at her feet. She sagged against the wall and listened until Mari took a breath.

"Better?"

"Much better," said Asuka.

She looked up, and realized the red light over her head was flashing. Her stomach clenched and a moment later, she heard the evacuation alarm sounding through the phone.

"Not now," she said, "Why now?"

"I'm going to the shelter," said Mari. "I'll be safe. Watch out for yourself."

"I will. I…"

"I love you," said Mari.

"Yeah," Asuka choked out, and waited for Mari to hang up. She didn't have a pocket, so she locked her phone and left it on the table.

She heard footsteps outside, probably Shinji coming to collect his helmet, resting on the long table. She picked up hers and stepped out, and nearly ran into Natalie Summers. The older woman stood her ground, fists on her hips.

"That was sweet," said Summers.

"What?"

"Your little girlfriend," said Summers. "I wonder what would happen if someone found out about-"

Asuka shoved her, surprised at how heavy she was, and raised her fist in front of her face. Brilliant light flashed around it, forming a perfect sphere of superheated plasma. Summers pressed against the wall, eyes wide behind her matronly glasses, chest heaving.

"Fuck with me, and you'll be measuring your body temperature in Kelvin," Asuka said, almost in a whisper.

Summers swallowed, her throat bobbing. "I see."

She slid away and Asuka let the flame wink out, turning the strut away, her hair whipping with the fury of her stomping steps. Something about the transaction unnerved her.

Mostly that Summers wasn't sweating.

* * *

Shinji stood on the line next to Asuka, feet spread at parade rest with his helmet under his arm. He looked defiantly at his father as the man approached. Asuka gave a start as she saw him, eyes widened as her gaze swept over his now bare chin. Shinji clenched his teeth, imagining his father shaving that morning with Summers standing behind him. Shinji felt his stomach turn at the thought of that woman in a pink fuzzy robe in his father's bedroom. He kept his face a mask, though, trying to remember the serenity training the governess had given him at Castle von Doom. It was difficult. He had to reign in his emotions, though, or risk damaging the equipment.

Gendo stared flatly at him. "You're up."

"You mean me," said Asuka.

"No, Shinji. Unit Two is still in need of repairs."

Shinji's stomach clenched, and for a moment he might double over. Asuka glared at him as the Commander walked away, hands thrust in his pocket.

"Do you think he's acting a little strangely?" she said.

"Yes," said Shinji. He tightened his arm around his helmet. "I have to go."

"I know. Good luck."

He blinked as she turned and sauntered off, glancing over her shoulder. She was unnerved about something too, and she wasn't hiding it. She looked around the chamber and stared at her Eva as she walked towards the ready room. Shinji jogged to the elevator, where Summers waited with her arms crossed.

Ritsuko appeared behind her. Summers turned to her angrily. "Are you deaf? I'm the flight surgeon."

Shinji shouldered past her. "Check your manuals, Doctor Summers. I hold the rank of Captain. Unless you're planning to give me a physical or scrub the mission, get off my elevator and go monitor my vital signs."

Summers blinked at him. "Ooh, aren't we being feisty today."

Her eyes slid over him and he shuddered as her pale tongue slid over her lip. She turned and paced off with an exaggerated sway of her hips, disappearing among the technicians. Shinji glanced at Ritsuko, blinking.

"Did she… did she just flirt with me?"

"She's probably just impressed by how well your kidneys function," said Ritsuko. She smirked and cocked her head, eyeing him from head to toe. "Although…"

Shinji blushed furiously, suddenly aware of how tight his plugsuit was. "I, ah, that is-"

"You're too easy," she snickered, hitting the switch. "Come on. Did you forget there's a giant space monster trying to destroy the world?"

He swallowed, and looked at her. "What's Styx?"

"The greatest band ever," said Ritsuko, "and an awesome excuse to be looking at my chest. Very clever, Shinji."

He covered his mouth and leaned on the railing as the scaffold ascended, finding the vertigo-inducing view of the concrete floor sweeping away easier to take in than the clever smirk on Ritsuko's face. He finally turned around, and they both burst out in snickers. Shinji scrubbed his hand through his hair and bit his lip.

"It gets easier," said Ritsuko. "Try not to think about it. We're all counting on you now."

He clenched his fist, trying not to choke up and failing. "I know. I can do it."

The elevator bounced to a stop. Shinji mechanically went through the pre-flight checklists, strapping himself in, putting on his helmet, trying not to see Rei's bloodied face in every surface. When the hollow rumble of the LCL infusion began, he locked his helmet to the seat and tried to focus, pressing his eyes shut. Ritsuko's voice crackled in his ear.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he said. "Start it up."

By rote, mechanically, he checked over the switches and turned the yoke, waiting for the system to warm up. When synchronization began he slid into it easily, almost missing it when the spike of pain came and the phantom limbs settled into his own. He blinked a few times and leaned into it as much as the restraints would let him. He had to get his head in the game.

"Get ready," said Ritsuko. "We're launching you."

"Anything you can tell me about this thing?"

"It's weird, and it's pissed off."

He was about to say something wise-assed, but clicked his teeth shut as the cage opened and he stomped out through the staging area and into the launch tube, following the blinking path in his head-sup display. He noticed a few changes to it. Ritsuko was always fiddling with things, so he ignored it as the Eva locked into the launch sled. He held his breath, waiting.

The surge carried him skyward, pushing him into the seat, making his head rattle inside the helmet. He felt the blood draining from his face, until at last he hit the strange, peaceful moment of relaxation that came as gravity lost its grip, just for a moment, at the top of the launch. It came back on him suddenly as the Eva bounced to a halt and he stepped out, his father's voice bland and flat in his helmet's speaker.

"Engage it at range. The creature's capabilities are unknown."

"Thanks," Shinji snapped, wincing. He should have held his tongue.

As he stepped out between the shield plates, he caught his first glimpse of the creature, and everything else fell out of his mind. Summers, Rei, his father, all of it. It was enormous, like a mountain had lifted from the ground and taken flight. A great double-sided pyramid, one set atop the other, it moved with ponderous, too-smooth slowness. Somewhere within its translucent body he saw a dark round spot that must have been the core. He gaped at it for just a moment, then headed for the arming platform to collect something to shoot at it.

He waited too long.

As he turned, it felt like something was tearing his shoulder off. The creature's body blazed like the sun and a lance of pure light crossed the gap between them instantly, bowling Unit One over as it ripped through the armor. Shinji screamed until his throat burned, clutching his side, the control yoke forgotten. The Eva lurched, nearly falling over, and he heard a dozen voices shouting in his ear at once.

"Shinji," Ritsuko said, calmly. "Focus on my voice. I'm here."

"It hurts!" Shinji shouted, and it turned into a scream. It felt like his skin was melting off.

"I have all the launch tubes open. Get into one. Now."

His head was swimming. It was too hot. He felt his entire body prickling with new sweat, and beads of perspiration ran down his nose. He tried to breath but his chest clenched and he clutched at it, madly. He was only dimly aware of the Eva's legs, and nearly went down, the pavement rushing up to meet him for a moment before he got one hand on the yoke and pulled back. He stumbled behind a plate or armor and there was a sudden, all-consuming rush of relief as the heat faded, but the light stung his eyes as the Angel turned its beam on the plating. He could see the launch pad, he just needed to-

The armor plate folded like a candle, going red hot as it tilted over from the force of the blast. The heat came again, and this time he nearly blacked out. He stumbled forward and belly flopped onto the pad, gritting his teeth as he felt the impact through the Eva's good arm. He rolled onto his side and it dropped, and when the beam fell away it was like falling into a pool of ice water, and behind the cold came a sharp, deep breath of sweaty-musky air and then blackness.

* * *

"Fuck," said Ritsuko.

She clutched her head, trying to squeeze the pain out. Thankfully, no one seemed to hear her. Gendo stared straight ahead, out of fatigue or worry for Shinji, his unshaven face too clean and weirdly unfamiliar. Summers sat next to him, her legs crossed, short skirt riding up her thigh. She took a too-long drag on a cigarette and blew out a long, thin streamer of smoke that curled over her head and mad Ritsuko suddenly realize how filthy a habit it really was. If Ritsuko could have crawled over the conference table and choked her out, she would have.

Instead, she folded her hands on the table to keep them from shaking.

"Ideas," Gendo said.

Fuyutsuki sat down and looked over the report in the manila folder lying on the table. "We have a serious problem."

"The MAGI give us about nine hours until it bores through the armor plating into the Geofront. From there, it's another six into Terminal Dogma," said Ritsuko. "Assuming the drilling rate stays the same."

Summers tapped her long, perfectly manicured nails on the table. "Why haven't we deployed Unit Two yet?"

"We can't," Fuyutsuki said, sharply.

Everyone in the room looked at him.

"We're down to one pilot and one functional Eva. Attempting the same tactic again is suicide," said Fuyutsuki.

Ritsuko nodded. "We need to work the problem. I've been having my techs send up decoy targets. Anything that pops up in the city is going to get vaporized. It takes out the defense batteries before we even get a firing solution."

Gendo nodded, and kept nodding a bit too long. "Yes."

"Plan?" said Fuyutsuki.

He looked at Gendo expectantly.

"We need to strike at it from out of its own range," said Ritsuko. It's our only hope of mounting any kind of attack."

"How do you propose we do that?" said Summers. "The Evas need to be in range to erode the Angel's AT-Field, and so far every conventional weapon has been useless against them anyway."

"Run up and punch it isn't much of a plan," Ritsuko snapped. "We need to project force from a distance."

"What kind of ranged weapons do we have?" said Fuyutsuki.

"Most of the guns use kinetic projectiles," said Ritsuko. "Summers is right," she growled a little, "If we shoot at it with them we'll just provoke it into an attack. An energy based weapon might be able to punch through, but the only one we have is the fusion cannon, which is slow to fire and useless against moving… targets…" she trailed off.

Fuyutsuki nodded. "Can it punch through the AT-Field?"

Ritsuko looked at Maya, standing in the corner. Her assistant scurried off. Ritsuko tried to look calm as she slipped a cigarette pack out of her pocket, thought better of it, and pushed it back in. She pulled her labcoat closed over her t-shirt and folded her arms, kicking her foot as she waited.

"We can't just _sit_ here," Summers snapped.

On cue, Maya rushed back in. "The fusion gun doesn't put out enough energy to pierce an AT-Field. It would burn out the Eva's onboard reactor."

"That's not a problem," said Fuyutsuki. "We only need one shot."

Maya shook her head, looking a little nervous talking directly to him. "The only way we could generate enough power would be using the city grid."

"So?" said Fuyutsuki. "Connect it directly to the grid."

"I'm sorry, sir," said Maya, "I mean the entire grid. All six primary arc reactors, plus the auxiliaries. We'd need to put all of that through the gun, and it might either explode or melt. Even then, it only has a fifty-fifty chance of working."

Ritsuko jumped up. "I like those odds. It's a good plan. I'm proud to be a part of it. Let's do it."

"What?" said Fuyutsuki. "The hospitals, the MAGI-"

"All have backup diesel generators," said Ritsuko. "We'll have the power back up before we run out of fuel, and if we don't, we'll all be dead anyway. 50/50 is better than nothing."

She looked at Gendo. "Or we can get the pilots killed. Your call."

Summers bristled. Gendo's eyes focused for a moment. "Do it," he said, and stood up, wobbling on his feet. Summers touched his arm and smiled a shark smile at Ritsuko and walked out with him.

Fuyutsuki stood up as well, watching them warily.

"Begin your preparations. I assuming we'll need to set up an emplacement outside the city to fire the gun."

"Yeah," Ritsuko said, absently. "Yeah, we will. Mount Asama should work, there will be cover there to set everything up. We can run the Eva out that way without exposing it, if we use the tracked crawler. We should start moving Unit Two now."

"I'll see to it," said Fuyutsuki.

"Wait," said Maya. "What about Unit One?"

"The right arm is crippled, and it the armor plating is badly damaged," said Ritsuko, and sighed, "and the pilot is out cold."

"No I'm not," Shinji rasped.

He stood outside, dressed in his plugsuit, leaning on Asuka. Ritsuko blinked. He was pale and his face was bandaged on the right side, where he'd caught the brunt of the blast. Sympathetic damage, mostly, not an actual imagery, but he still winced when he talked.

"Shinji," said Fuyutsuki, "This will be a one person operation. Go back to bed."

Shinji shook his head.

Ritsuko sighed. "Wait, there is something you can do. We have a Space Shuttle heat shield we were going to adapt for close combat. Unit One can support it and give Unit Two some more cover, keep the beam off you if the Angel retaliates or explodes or something."

Shinji nodded.

"Now, back in bed. Get some rest. I'll send for you when it's time to move out. Take that thing off and put on something comfortable."

Ritsuko looked at Asuka. "And you, helping him out of bed. You should know better."

Asuka gave her a sharp look, and the kids headed down the hall, away from the conference room.

Fuyutsuki nodded, leaving Maya and Ritsuko alone. She wasted no time heading for the lab, hands in her pockets. She tossed her cigarettes in a garbage can as she walked by, kicking her heels at the floor. It felt like cutting off part of her arm, but she didn't need the distraction now, anyway.

"We have to shut _everything_ down?" said Maya, out of breath from fear.

"Yes," said Ritsuko. "Everything."

As she walked into the lab, Ritsuko shouted, "MAGI, show me the power grid and consumption rates."

A list came up on the monitors, and she closed the door.

"The top power hogs are the Evas, the MAGI, and Summers' lab," said Ritsuko.

She looked at the monitor for a moment. "Wait. Summers' lab is going to be without power for hours."

Maya looked at her. "So?"

"So, the security systems, surveillance, all of it, will be off. We're pulling the plug. This is my chance."

"To do what?"

"Sneak in!" said Ritsuko. "Find out what the hell she's up to. I'll stay behind and monitor the MAGI directly. I probably should anyway, all I'd do at the remote installation is stare out the windows anyway."

"But-"

"I need you to get everything set up," said Ritsuko. "Start coordinating the repair and movement of the fusion gun. Asuka messed it up when she dropped it, but it shouldn't be a problem. I need the main coolant channels reinforced, and…"

She started rattling off a list, barely giving Maya time to write it all down. She delegated everything she possibly good.

"Remember to delegate this," said Ritsuko. "We need the operation ready in six hours, tops."

Maya nodded and scurried off.

* * *

Shinji limped into the open air, breathing it deeply through his nostrils. He leaned on the railing as he looked out over the motor pool. He'd be climbing inside one of the staff cars with Asuka in a minute, and heading up to the mountain through the tunnels. He drummed his sore fingers on the railing and stared at his hand, flexing his palm. It _felt_ like it should be stiff, even if it was limber. He touched his face and remembered the feeling of his flesh melting off and shivered, wondering if it would leave a scar. There was an almost imperceptible mark on the other side of his face that was already fading, from his first fight.

"Hey," a soft voice said.

He turned around, but there was no one there. He glanced up at the roof of the Geofront, far above, absurdly trying to listen, wondering if he would be able to hear the Angel's drill pushing through.

Louder, this time. "Hey!"

He turned and walked around the side of the building. Hikari scrambled down from the roof, clinging to the wall with her hands and feet. She was upside down until she turned around and put her heels against the wall and sort of sat against it, perched over her feet. She was wearing her hooded sweatshirt and goggles, and Shinji couldn't believe she thought that was a real disguise.

"Oh God," she said, touching his bandage.

He pulled her hand away, but not roughly. She was wearing a glove but her fingers were out, and he was wearing his suit, so he couldn't touch her skin anyway. She dropped down onto the walkway.

"How did you get here?" said Shinji. "Why aren't you in a shelter?"

"I was making sure everyone else made it," she said. "I wanted to make sure you're okay."

There was a tear in her hoodie. He touched it, and she made an annoyed little sound.

"What happened to that?"

"I got a cut," she said. I fought some idiot in a scorpion costume during the last Angel attack, last week. No big deal."

He looked at her. She pulled her goggles up.

"You never said you were hurt," Shinji said, softly.

"I didn't want you to worry. It wasn't very deep. I thought I'd need stitches, but it sealed up in a few hours. I don't even have a mark. Look."

She gathered up her sweatshirt and pulled it up, lifting it until he could see the bottom of the cup of the gray athletic bra she wore underneath it, and the pale, muscular expanse of her belly. There was no corresponding mark where she'd been injured. She blushed a little and covered herself, and Shinji realized his heart had quickened.

"Are you okay?" said Hikari. "I'm sorry about your friend."

Shinji folded his arms over his chest, trying to look stoic while he was really hugging himself. "She wasn't really my friend. I didn't know her that well. She wasn't allowed to go to school with us, and Dad never let me talk to her. I wish I'd known her better. No one even seems to care that she died, except Ritsuko."

"Who?" said Hikari.

"You don't know her," said Shinji. "She works here. She's in charge of the Evas. She's nice," he said, his voice growing a little soft. "I knew her mother. I liked her. She's dead now, too. She killed herself."

Hikari put her arms around him, and he put his head on her shoulder. He let his forehead roll against her cheek and closed his eyes, drinking in her warmth. She was strong and she smelled like sweat, smoke, and for some reason, peanut butter.

He heard someone calling his name, and pulled back.

"I have to go," he said. "This is dangerous, Hikari. If I don't make it…"

"Don't say that," said Hikari, jumping up onto the wall. "You'll make it. I better get out of here before someone sees me."

She caressed her fingers over the unbandaged side of his face, and sighed, smiling softly. Even in her silly outfit, she was beautiful. He wanted desperately to kiss her. As if she could read his mind, she scrambled over the wall to him and he stood on his tip-toes and brushed his lips over hers, soft and warm.

"Shinji!" a voice called.

Summers. _Shit._

"Go," Shinji said, but when he turned back to Hikari, she was already gone. Summers walked around the corner of the building.

"What are you doing hiding over here? It's time to leave. We have to be at the remote site in half an hour."

Shinji brushed past her. She grabbed his arm.

"I'm sorry about what happened this morning. You-"

He shrugged out of her grip, or tried to. She held on, her fingers painfully squeezing his upper arm. He pulled harder this time and she let go.

"Don't talk to me," he said. "You're not my mother."

"You wound me," she said, following after him as he did his best to limp with dignity away from her. "Your father and I are in a serious relationship."

"That's not what he told me," Shinji snapped, without looking back. "He told me it was to keep you close to him."

"It worked," she sighed. "That's how it started, Shinji, but it's more than that now. He loves me."

Shinji's fists clenched, and his right hand throbbed, as if the skin was splitting. He forced the pain out of his mind, knowing it as just an after effect of the damaged to the Eva.

"No he doesn't," said Shinji. "I don't know what he's doing, but he doesn't. He loves my mother. He promised me."

"Promises can be broken," said Summers, "and it's been a long time. How long? Nine years, now? Ten? That's a long time for a man to be by himself."

"Not my father."

"I'm not telling you he didn't love her. I'm not telling you that he doesn't love her anymore. He just found room for me, that's all. I want you to find room for me, Shinji."

He gaped at her, and his teeth clenched. The walkway under him shook, and the railing curled, squeaking as the metal twisted and deformed next to him. He could feel the invisible currents of magnetic force running through the Earth, feel the struts in the construction around him, feel the iron in his own blood, in Asuka's blood as she walked up the steps towards him. He felt it everywhere.

Everywhere but in Summers. It was like she had no blood at all.

Shinji stepped back, his stomach clenching into a cold ball. "What are you?"

"I'm just a woman," said Summers, stepping forward. "It doesn't have to be like this, Shinji. We don't have to be enemies."

Asuka stepped up beside him.

"Are you _threatening_ my betrothed?"

Asuka's eyes started to glow, and Shinji felt the first prickles of sweat on his face and chest. The ends of her hair lifted up, as if from static electricity, and started to move around on their own, drifting on an invisible breeze. Her irises started to change color, turning from their usual sky blue to a deep purple and then red, not arterial red but the deep ochre of a lava flow.

Summers sniffed the air. "This isn't your concern, von Doom. Family business."

"You're not my family," said Shinji, "You'll never be my family. You can tell my father it's you or me. Those are his choices."

He grabbed Asuka's arm, wincing at the heat; it was like touching a stove that had been turned off, but recently. She turned and moved with him, and as she turned from Summers he felt her calm down, as her touch became bearable again.

"You're going to regret this," Summers called. "I always get what I want, Shinji."

"We need to go," said Asuka.

She rushed him to the staff car, and opened the door for him, glancing at his injured arm. He slid inside, his plugsuit squeaking on the leather, and she sat beside him, clapping the door shut next to her.

After a moment, she turned to him.

"I need to tell you something."

He groaned, letting his head rest on the seat behind him.

"I should just say it. I don't love you."

Shinji blinked.

"I don't mean to sound harsh," she said, her voice shaking a little, "but I am not in love with you. You are still my comrade and my friend, and like a brother to me. I will still fight by your side, and I admire you for being ready to put yourself in harm's way to spare me, but I do not desire you, Shinji Ikari. I am in love with Mari Makinami."

"Okay," Shinji sighed.

"I am still angry with you for cheating on me," Asuka snapped.

Shinji closed his eyes, and did his best to try to go to sleep. They had a long ride ahead of them.

* * *

Ritsuko stood in her lab, strapping a light to her head. She'd shrugged out of her labcoat and stripped down to her lucky Styx t-shirt and armor undersuit, and clicked the light on just as a heavy _thunk _rolled through the base and the lights went out. In addition to her lamp she'd rigged up a simple MAGI portable to carry with her. She tapped her headset.

"Maya?" she said.

"Reading you, Doctor Akagi," said Maya, in her clear, professional voice. "The operation is go. We'll be starting in a few minutes."

Ritsuko nodded, then said, "Good. Everything is go here. I'll be in touch. I'm heading down to the MAGI cores now."

She, of course, was doing no such thing. She slipped the portable in a backpack, shouldered it, and opened the access hatch that led into the endless array of waist-height tunnels that ran through the base, allowing access to millions of miles of cabling, ventilation systems, and the like. The cameras were all shut off, but this was the safest and fastest route. She began to climb down, feeling a little sickened as he lamp followed her gaze.

Crawling through the tunnels was tedious. Eventually, she opened the hatch and lowered herself down into the main hall outside Summers' bio-labs. The main doors were sealed, but opening them was a simple affair. Summers hadn't posted any guards. Ritsuko pulled out her tool kit, opened the access panel, and tapped the manual release.

With the power down, she had to wedge them open and then shoulder inside, passing through a gap just wide enough to twist through. The air on the other side was cold and smelled like metal, and even though it was no different from the rest of the base, it creeped her out. Summers apparently worked mostly alone in here- she had some underlings, but they never talked about what the saw. Ritsuko walked around in inside for a moment. She wasn't sure what she expected, but it was just a lab, almost identical in layout to the Eva engineer labs. A little disappointed, she walked past the rows of stations.

Only a few of them looked used. The were no scuff marks on the floor, no coffee cups, no garbage in the cans, no signs of human habitation at all. Summers had a private lab like her own, and Ritsuko sidled up to the door, looked around like she was in a cheesy spy thriller, and started working on the override. Her radio crackled.

"Ritsuko, they're getting ready," Maya said, softly. "Fifteen minutes."

"Right," said Ritsuko. She had maybe twenty minutes to an hour before the lights came up, and she had to be in the MAGI cores by then to make sure the switch over went smoothly.

When the door popped open, she slipped inside, looking around, pointing a second lamp at the desk that ran around the room, just like hers. It was much neater. Too much neater. Again, it looked almost unused. Ritsuko made her way to the back and found the normal system of hatches and access panels replaced with a book shelf. Blinking, she went over the titles. No technical works, mostly fiction. She swept her beam of light over them.

One of the books' spine was worn down, much more so than the others. The gilt lettering had flaked off, and the edge was curled. She tilted her head a little, reading the title. _The Island of Doctor Moreau. _

Gingerly, she tugged on the book, but it held fast, until the top tipped forward. There was a loud thunk, and the whole shelf slid towards her.

"You have got to be shitting me," she whispered, and turned to the side of the shelf. A tug made it swing out, opening into an entire hallway.

She walked inside, half expecting it to swing shut behind her, but it was just a door, from the other side. She hurried down the hall, and at last it opened into a lab, a real lab. She looked around, swallowing hard at the tables- they were all padded and adorned with leather straps, like surgical tables. Ritsuko walked further down the hall, looking at the glass windows and the tables beyond them. There was a fork ahead, and another door, but it proved to be unlocked. She randomly chose the right and headed inside.

It was some kind of a trophy room. Sitting on a stand was a helmet, battered and used. Some of the enamel finish had worn off, but it used to be lavender and purple, with a pair of little horns, one now broken. She didn't risk touching it, but stared at it for a moment, aching at its familiarity. She went on. There was some kind of a visor with a cracked red lens and a switch on the side, and a woman's scarf wound round a pole.

On a table lay a photo album. Ritsuko gingerly opened it, lifting the corner with the tip of her finger. It flopped open, and she gasped. Some of the pictures were so old they were not black and white, but sepia. She leafed through it, not really recognizing what she saw, until she saw Big Ben in the background of a photo- this was Old London. She leafed further ahead, until she came to a large black and white photo. Under it, in a neat hand, was written _Buenos Aires, 1961_. Several people stood in a small cluster around a table, covered in a restaurant table cloth, with bottles of champagne and fluted glasses. One of them was an older man with long hair, protectively holding a short, frail looking woman with dark hair and eyes. No one stood out to her, except the man standing to one side.

Powerfully built and over six feet tall, he was strikingly pale, even in a black and white photo, and had jet black hair that stood out even though the picture itself was fairly faded. There was a legend written under the picture.

_Madalena and Lorenz Kihl and Nathaniel Essex, New Year's Eve 1961_.

She studied the picture for a moment. The man and woman looked like an old professor who'd married a student. Essex scared her a little, and then it dawned on her.

Her father. Essex must have been Summers' father. She flipped through the rest of the book. Essex disappeared and Summers took his place, as though she'd just appeared. There was a picture of a tomb stone- Nathaniel Essex IV, Beloved Father, d. 1999. Ritsuko winced and flipped on.

Another picture was marked _Gehirn_, _2005_. In the picture was her mother. Ritsuko stifled a gasp, looking at her mother standing with the Ikaris and Summers, all in a group around a bottle of champagne again. Summers was at Gehirn? Naoko never mentioned her.

Ritsuko closed the book, made sure it was undisturbed, and walked into the lab. Everything here was in disarray, papers spread everywhere. Ritsuko looked around, and checked her watch. She had to be out of there in five or six minutes, if she were to make it up to the MAGI in time. She turned on Summer's terminal.

She was still logged in. Ritsuko felt a little jump of joy and jammed a thumb drive in, to copy as much as she could. She looked around, and noticed a filing cabinet. One of the drawers was labeled _Emails_.

Ritsuko blinked, and pulled it open. She printed her emails? What was she, a little old lady? She went through them, fingering over the folders, until she found one labeled around the time of her mother's death, starting a month prior.

She flipped through them until one caught her eye.

"Essex," she read, "We have the Akagi woman. Proceed as planned."

Ritsuko blinked. "What the _hell," _she said.

There were more emails, back and forth about the progress on the "Solenoid Project". Ritsuko's hands started to shake. There was no signatures and the headers had been falsified, but she knew who Summers was talking to.

"Ritsuko," Maya's voice crackled. "We have a problem here, we-"

"I'm heading back up," said Ritsuko. "One minute."

She headed to the terminal. Almost everything had been cloned to the drive. Anxiously, she waited, and finally yanked the drive free before running out of the lab, slamming the doors behind her.


	10. The Best Defense, Part 2

_Previously on…_

**AGE OF MARVELS**

_The attempt to reactivate Unit Zero was a disaster. Rei (the sixth Rei clone, her identity hidden from all but Natalie Summers) was killed in the attempt, but not before speaking cryptically to Ritsuko about "The Lady in the Eva"_

_Distraught, Shinji was comforted by Ritsuko, while Asuka was confronted by Summers about her relationship with Mari. _

_Meanwhile, Rei (Five) awoke from a nightmare, sharing a psychic imprint of her clone sister's death in Unit Zero. _

_Giving the pilots barely a moment to breathe, the Fifth Angel appeared over the city. Shinji was deployed and nearly killed as the Angel crippled Unit One's arm and almost boiled him alive in the entry plug. Rather than risk putting both Evas out of commission, Nerv executed a strategic withdrawal and holed up to devise a strategy to defeat the massively powerful Angel. _

_With just barely enough power available from the massive arc reactors that power the city, base, and Evas, Nerv began work to set up a forward base to fire the fusion cannon in hopes of destroy the enemy from a distance, sparing Asuka from the same fate that befell Shinji, who volunteered to shield her. _

_Ritsuko seized on this opportunity to sneak into Summer's lab while the base was mostly deserted and the power to all but the most vital systems shut down. Her discoveries in Summers' lab are only the beginning. Many events of great import would take place this night, shaping the future for years to come…_

* * *

**THE BEST DEFENSE**

**Part 2**

* * *

Maya had never been more nervous than she was as she rode in the APC up the side of Mount Asama to the forward firing position, staring at her tablet as if it held the keys to creation. She didn't want to join in the fake, flighty conversation between the other techs. Hyuga and Aoba were arguing about some freaking manga and the others were talking about the kids, making vacation plans as if they weren't all hanging from the very edge, a hair's breadth away from destruction. She swallowed, hard, and went over everything again. It wasn't long until the power grid would shut down and come under control of the forward base.

Looking out the window, she marveled at how fast all of this had come together. Nerv poured everything into this effort- crawlers were carrying dormant arc reactors up the mountainside, portable units that would lend a trickle to the floor from the city reactors, dumping their output into the rising current of energy that would pour through the fusion cannon. Maya went over the numbers again and again, hoping against hope that it would hold, that the cannon wouldn't simply disintegrate and blow up in the Eva's face.

A whole snaking convoy of trucks and machines thundered up from the valley below. New cables were being laid, braided together by a machine that was repurposed from weaving bridge cable to feed the lines into enormous capacitors and transformers that would do the job of funneling the vast amounts of energy through single bundle of cable into the fusion cannon.

When the vehicle lurched to a stop, she shot to her feet, waiting anxiously as the ramp lowered, and shuffled out, clutching her tablet to her chest, looking around nervously, worried that her nerves would make it more obvious she was hiding something. The thought of Ritsuko going into that woman's laboratory alone scared the hell out of her. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Summers heading for the temporary command center, a block prefabricated structure resting on pilings set into the hillside. Maya made her way towards it, stopping to gape at the forest of electrical wires and connections snaking their way around the mountainside. The Evas were still rolling up, lying on huge carriers that rolled on massive caterpillar treads, worming their way up the hill.

She stopped as the staff car carrying the pilots rolled past her and the other techs. She caught a glimpse of them as they went past, the boy's pale face soaking in the night breeze. It was unusually cool that night, and the cloud cover was rolling in, obscuring the stars. She felt a hum of electricity in the air and realized it was probably literally there, not just in her head. She looked around, and headed for the command bunker, joining the flow of technicians heading inside.

The structure was long, low, and flat, and didn't overlook the actual position of the Evas. What little power they dared syphon off was used for LCD screens that showed the massive machines rolling to a halt. Lying face down with their necks cracked open, they looked dead and eerie, and Maya tried not to gaze too hard at them. Instead, she went about logging into her terminal. She needed to talk to Ritsuko, to make sure she was in place. The chronometer said the power was switching off in about an hour, so she had some time.

The Commander walked through the bunker. She bristled when she saw him, remembering that morning through a fog of fatigue and caffeine. Summers walked beside him, and glanced at Maya from the corner of her eye.

Maya shivered. It was like those red eyes looked through her, seeing her secrets. She felt a weight settle on the back of her head, like a hand just touching the short hairs at the back of her neck, and had the feeling of hearing a distant whisper. She suddenly thought of Ritsuko, sneaking around the bowels of Nerv.

Summers glanced at her and smiled warmly, as if they shared some secret, and walked over.

"Ibuki," she said.

"Doctor Summers," said Maya, sitting up in her chair. She hoped this would be over soon. It was like talking to a huge spider.

Summers looked through her again, then turned and walked off, sliding her arm through the Commander's. Couldn't they keep that to themselves?

Maya turned around. "Disgusting," she muttered.

"You're telling me," Aoba whispered. "What does she see in him?"

"Excuse me?" said Maya.

"Summers. She's like, like, an eleven. With _him_. Commander Creepy."

Maya blinked a few times. "You're kidding, right?"

"No way. Her hair is so silky. I wonder what kind of conditioner she uses."

"I'm ending this conversation," said Maya, turning back to her terminal.

* * *

Shinji limped across the dirt towards the crawler. Around the side of the mountain he could see the glow from the Angel as it bored into the city, now only hours away from breaching the base. He didn't know why, but he knew the creature was desperate to breach Terminal Dogma and get at whatever was inside, so much so that it would risk death by coming here. Father had told him to expect the enemy to be single minded and merciless in its pursuits, utterly remorseless. He winced at the phantom burn on his shoulder, which felt like it was making his very bones itch, and glanced over at Asuka.

She had her game face on, which meant that she walked with her spine as straight as an iron bar and carried her helmet under her arm, striding purposely towards the Eva. He wished she'd picked another time to inform him, in so many words, that she didn't love him. It wasn't exactly a shock and he didn't feel that bad about it, but he didn't need that rattling around in his mind on top of everything else.

The Eva lay face down in the carrier-crawler, and he shuddered when he saw the primer-colored sections of emergency replacement plating. The heat-reflective coating had done zilch to protect him, but it looked like the beast was covered in bandages. The heat shield he was supposed to deploy to cover Asuka lay a few hundred meters away. It gave him a sense of vertigo thinking about how small all this would look from his Eva's perspective. He pushed that out of his mind and calmed himself, focusing on the breathing exercises he'd learned at Castle von Doom. He felt a calm settle over him.

Asuka stopped before peeling off for Unit Two. "Shinji."

"Good luck," he said.

"Good hunting," she said, smirking at him a little. She turned and stalked off, and he rather pointedly did not look at her backside, flexing under skintight red cloth. He settled his helmet under his arm and started on his way up the stairs towards the Evangelion.

He missed Ritsuko being here to help him in, but on the plus side, Summers was off in the bunker, horning in on the command. It didn't matter; he and Asuka were basically on their own and once the operation started, there was little need to converse with anyone on the ground. He headed up towards the plug and walked down the long entry gangway towards it. A few techs clustered around, and took his helmet while he climbed inside.

Once he was in, he put his helmet on and clipped it into the restraint and strapped himself in, giving the techs the go sign before the sealed him in. The Eva came up in low power mode, giving him communications and instrumentation before the LCL flooded in. He looked at the time; fifteen minutes. He thought about taking his helmet off but thought better of it. If there was any chance that the Eva would be needed early, he didn't want to end up choking on the foul, allegedly breathable liquid.

He decided to kill time by going through his instruments and making sure all his switches were set. Someone checked all this for him, but he enjoyed doing it himself, enjoyed the orderliness of it. Once he'd checked everything twice, he sat back and waited until the radio crackled in his ear.

"Shinji? This is Lieutenant Ibuki."

"Hi," said Shinji. "Is everything ready?"

"Yes. We're going to start you up first, to make sure that the Eva doesn't get difficult on us. We had to be hasty with the repairs."

"Well," Shinji sighed, "I wouldn't want it to be difficult, would I?"

Maya swallowed, making the radio crackled. "Yeah. Beginning LCL infusion."

He waited, drumming his fingers on the yoke while the fluid flooded in around him and his displays color-corrected to appear in natural colors in the orange liquid. When it was full he relaxed, feeling the slight buoyancy it gave him. The synchronization process started, and it made him grit his teeth. The Eva was still sore, its arm still throbbing from the damage that the Angel had inflicted on it. He felt himself growling.

"Shinji?" said Maya. "You okay?"

"Fine," he snapped.

"We're getting some weird numbers up here. I want you to tell me if anything feels weird or out of place, okay?"

He nodded, glancing at her image on one of his smaller displays. He looked up and focused on getting the Eva into a crouching position, and stood up, putting one foot ahead of the crawler. The shield was ahead of him, almost as tall as he -scratch that, the Eva- was, ready to be picked up and carried. He slid the left arm through the straps and hefted it, testing its weight. It threw his balance off, but there was nothing to be done about that.

With the flip of a switch he brought up one of the remote cameras. Asuka was getting up and fitting herself with the gun. Instead of tapping it into her Eva's power source, she plugged it directly into a heavy ground line that ran back to the line of transformers and capacitors behind her and moved cautiously, keeping the mountainside between her and the Angel. He could see it through some of the other cameras, a shining beacon above the city, a beam of light diving from its lowest point into the streets below.

* * *

Toji watched Rei as she paced back and forth, tail twitching behind her, rubbing her arms. Ever since she had her weird nightmare she'd been on her feet, pacing restlessly. The lights had all gone off like before, but even the emergency lighting outside was out. The whole city was dark, except for the glow of the _thing_. He'd only looked at it once, and that was enough. It had an elemental wrongness to it, like the angles of its flat, glassy planes didn't fit together quite the right way.

These things were supposed to be aliens or something, but this one didn't even look alive. It reminded him of some kind of a machine, something somebody made. It didn't look like it grew somewhere, that was for sure. Toji found himself on his feet, his hands thrust in his pockets, pacing behind the couch.

"You are upset," said Rei.

"We should be in the shelter," said Toji. "You saw what that thing did."

"We are not safe there," Rei said, softly. "There is nowhere safe."

"What are they, Rei? Do you know?"

She shook her head. "I was told only what I needed to know to operate Unit Zero. Center the target, pull the switch."

Toji sighed. Kensuke probably would have killed for ten minutes alone with Rei to ask all kinds of questions -and stare at her, he was fully prepared to admit that she was pretty now- but Toji didn't care about any of that.

"I wish they'd just go away," he said.

Rei looked at him blankly and rubbed her arms against a phantom chill.

"Don't you?"

She shrugged. "I would have no purpose. Piloting Eva is what I am for."

Toji scratched his head. "What if it wasn't?"

Rei shook her head. "I have never thought about that before."

"Maybe you should."

She looked at him for a second, and she was as impenetrable as ever, her red eyes inscrutable.

"I can't stand this anymore," said Toji, striding for the door. "I have to get out of here. How long is this going to take?"

Rei caught his arm. "We should not-"

Toji sighed. "I wish I could get to the hospital."

Rei's tail swept back and forth. "Perhaps you could."

"Yeah?"

"I remember where it is."

"You mean you could do your thing?"

She nodded.

"How would we get inside?"

She looked off for a moment. "Do you remember your sister's room number?"

"Yeah, I-"

"Stay close."

Before he could protest, she stepped up to him and put her arms around his waist. He had a brief flash of the warmth of her pressed against him, and the way she smelled of soap. Then a reverberating _thump_ filled his ears and the stench of rotten eggs slid up his nose, making him sputter. For a moment he had an odd sensation of floating, and saw the ground rushing up to meet them.

"Oh _shit!"_ Toji shouted.

"Room number," Rei said in his ear, calmly.

"303!" Toji shouted, "303-"

Another thump, more rotten eggs. Rei let go of him and stumbled, and it took him an instant to find his footing on the slipper linoleum floor of the hospital room. Rei swayed and leaned against the wall and he rushed to her side, resting his hands on her hips to steady her. She sat down in the little chair by the bed.

Sakura lay on her bed, chest rising falling gently as she lay in her deep sleep. He could barely see her, as the room was lit only by her monitors. The hospital must have been on low power mode, too. He pushed the door to the room shut and slid a chair in front of it, just in case. Rei was breathing hard and she didn't look like she'd be up to a quick getaway.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

She nodded, but she looked pale, if that were even possible. Toji turned to Sakura. She lay slightly askew, the cast on her leg lifted up in a set of pulleys, her head turned to one side. He adjusted the oxygen line running under her nose, so it didn't dig into her skin. Her eyes slid back and forth under her eyelids, as if she were dreaming. She looked so small, like when they were little kids, swaddled in blankets and swallowed up by the big hospital bed. He pushed the hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"Hey," he whispered. "I was worried about you. I know it's not visiting hours, but I thought you could use some company."

Rei wobbled over to the bed and leaned on the rail. "Why do you speak to her?"

Toji looked at her for a second, jaw set, and blew out a breath. She didn't know better.

"She can hear me."

Rei look at Sakura for a second. "Why do you think that?"

"I just do," said Toji. "We were born together. She's all I have left of my Mom. We've always been together."

Rei nodded. Gingerly, she touched Sakura's hand.

"Hello. I am Rei. Thank you for your clothes."

Toji sighed. "This is my friend, Rei. She's in trouble, so I let her stay with us. She's borrowed some of your stuff. I hope you don't mind."

"She looks like you," said Rei. "I am surprised. I would think a female version of you would be less pleasant to look at."

Toji eyed her for a second. "Did you just make a joke?"

"Was it bad? I am sorry."

He sighed. "You tried."

"I did mean to imply you are unpleasant to look at."

He glanced at her, and could swear her cheeks had colored a bit. Was she flirting with him?

Sakura moaned softly and rolled her head a little. Toji's heart leapt for a second, but she settled back into her sleep without waking.

"The doctors said that would happen," said Toji. "Some kind of spasm or something. She's not waking up."

"She will," said Rei.

"You don't have to say that."

Rei put her hand on top of his. "She will."

* * *

Asuka waited while the UI and HUD loaded in her helmet, flexing her hands as she stared at the controls. She stared through Unit Two's eyes and packed mud, and winced when she heard a peel of thunder, amplified by the Eva's systems. She turned slightly from side to side, trying to work a kink out of her neck. The restraint on the helmet made impossible, and thinking about it made it even worse. She ground her teeth and realized she could already feel the Eva's limbs. Synch was surprisingly smooth this time.

Shifting her hands under her body, she stood up from the carrier-crawler and looked around. The gun emplacement was set up, the hastily repaired fusion gun resting on a cobbled together rest made up of old train cars and welded metal plating. Rain was starting to fall around her, and she saw moisture sliding down the Eva's eyepieces, and blinked furiously for a second.

"Doesn't this thing have windshield wipers?" she snapped.

"Sorry," said Ibuki. "We never really planned on operating in the rain. It shouldn't affect the targeting linkup."

Asuka nodded. It didn't matter. She technically didn't even need to see the target. The reticle just had to be lined up, and the supercomputers would do the rest, calculating the exact angle. The Angel itself lay just out of view, its hazy purple glow lighting the night sky like a sun never to rise. She stepped towards the emplacement, glancing at Shinji. He grimaced around his bandages and caught her eye for a moment, and nodded. Unit One repeated the gesture, the Eva standing a few hundred kilometers away. Neither of them would step into view until the last moment.

"Power status?"

"Capacitors charged," said Ibuki. "The gun's coolant system reads all green. We're two minutes ahead of schedule."

"Ready to commence operation," said Asuka, striding towards the gun. The Evangelion's foot slid in the mud a little, and she grimaced from the jolt that ran up her phantom spine.

As she knelt, she cursed silently to herself. She was going to get mud all over the fresh finish on the leg joints. She crouched the Eva down and waited for Shinji to stride up behind her, carrying his shield in front of him. He moved just ahead of her and dropped the Eva into a kneeling position, grunting loud enough for her to hear over the comm as he did. He angled the shield slightly, digging the base into the mountainside, holding it so she would fire the gun just past his side.

He faced her on her monitor and nodded.

Asuka settled into position, fitting the gun to her shoulder. It was already wired up, a long, heavy cable trailing around the side of the mountain to the capacitor banks on the other side. When it connected she saw the power readout and gasped. Normally, as the gun locked into her shoulder, the HUD would tell her how many bursts she could fire without draining her battery, but the power reading went to a series of pound signs and just flashed, until she dismissed it.

"Ready. Begin target protocol."

The triangular reticle floated in front of her. A circular icon appeared and began to sweep around in lazy circles as the computers finished the calculations. It settled over the Angel, resting atop the blazing, angular form of the beast's body. She breathed out, rather absurdly given that she wasn't actually touching the gun, and tugged on the yoke. The reticle shifted a bit and she slowly moved it in line with the firing solution until they mated and turned blue, signally her to fire.

"Fire."

She pulled the trigger. The gun spun up, shaking her teeth, and steam burst from the length of the barrel as the heat easily overwhelmed the onboard coolant systems. The gun rocked back and ground her knee and foot into the mud, and a miniature sun erupted from the end of the barrel, sending a wash of heat and pressure back over her. Shinji shifted, squaring his Eva, putting his damaged arm against the shield.

"Brace for impact!" Ibuki cried.

The Angel lifted up, pulling its drill from the ground, bobbing slightly in the air. It turned, its body shifting, the blaze growing to a newborn sun and then more focused, sweeping over the land like a searchlight. As it slid towards the mountainside there was an ear-splitting shriek and the sound grew unbearable as the light bore down on her, and the heavens lit up in reply. She glanced up to see cloud-to-cloud lightning jumping overhead just as the Angel's beam hit Shinji's shield.

It rolled him backwards, and the shield went white hot in an instant, the edges folding like soft candle wax. He put his wounded arm out and she saw the helmet cam view of his face in front of her, saw him screaming through shocked gasps of pain as he tried to keep the beam upright.

The blast cut through the fusion projectile and where they met, her shot skimmed up and over and clipped one of the far mountains, shearing the top of in a single, explosive blast that sent rolling flames and molten rock spewing towards the Ashii lakes. Horrified, Asuka jammed on the control, flooding more coolant into her barrel. The LCL was beginning to heat and the EVA was bleating warnings at her.

"Abort!" Ibuki shouted, "Abort!"

"We…" Shinji grunted, "Can't."

"Abort!" Ibuki screamed. "The power coupling-"

"The armor layers… breached," Shinji gasped, speaking to her. "Kill it!"

Asuka clenched her teeth and forced herself back into firing position. The Eva was screaming, phantom pain lacing through her muscles. In a moment of singular, eerie calm, she realized that this must be what burning felt like. It was singularly unpleasant. She felt soft, dreamy, like everything was slow. The gun was cooling down, ready to fire another burst. There was some kind of warning flashing on her screen, but she ignored it. She had to fire. She started up the fire control calculations again.

Shinji turned slightly from her. Something was happening to him. His eyes were glowing, and his Eva was getting up.

* * *

"We have a main bus undervolt," Hyuga shouted, "Power coupling three has opened. We have to go the close it before she can fire again."

Commander Ikari stared dumbly at the feed from the battle line, his eyes locked on Unit One. His mouth worked silently. Summers brushed past him, making him sway on her feet, and leaned over the techs. Maya lurched away from her, staring at the dozen alarms going off at her station.

"If she fires the gun again, it's going to explode," said Maya, "and she only has a third of the power. We're not going to make it."

Maya glanced at the readouts. "I'm getting really weird readings from Unit One."

"What the _fuck,"_ Aoba snapped, his curse cutting through the din. "I'm reading some kind of… magnetic distortion. I…"

"_EMP!"_ Hyuga shouted, just before everything went dark.

The lights, the monitors, everything shut off at once with a heavy, thunk, followed by screams and confused orders being shouted from every direction.

"Get the backups online," Summers snapped, pounding her fist into the console. "These systems are supposed to be shielded."

Another thump rolled through the forward command bunker. Maya looked out the narrow slid window and saw flashes, and stood up.

"That coupling is arcing. It's going to blow."

"Somebody has to get out there and close it," said Hyuga, jumping to his feet. "I'm going."

"Wait," said Maya, "If she fires the gun while you're outside…"

He didn't hear her over the shouting. She got up and followed him. When the fusion cannon fired, it pumped out serious gamma radiation. With this much power running through it… she got up, and shrugged out from Summers' grasp, running after him. Aoba stared at them for a second and then slid over, working all three stations by himself. Maya tried to drag Hyuga back, but he was already running out the door.

Aoba shouted something. "I'm a tracking a high speed, high energy object heading towards us from the upper atmosphere!"

"What?" Summers barked. "What is it? A meteor?"

"I don't think so. It's _speeding up._"

Maya ignored it all and ran outside. Hyuga tugged on a pair of heavy rubber gloves and ran up the rickety metal steps. As crude as it sounded, there was simply a big lever that closed the connection. Hyuga grabbed it and threw himself into turning it, wrenching it, hard. Maya barely had the presence of mind to pull on gloves before she grabbed it alongside him and pushed.

"Get back inside!" he screamed.

"If you can't close it we're all dead!" Maya shouted back, pushing alongside him, shoulder to shoulder. The cable, much larger than either of them, shifted slightly.

Maya screamed as she pushed, closing her eyes and digging her heels into the diamond plate under her feet. She pushed and pushed, and when she opened them again the cable picked up enough momentum to slam shut, the force of it rocking them both on their feet. She stumbled, and looked up to see the glow from the cannon spinning up.

"We have to get back inside," Hyuga snapped, pulling her.

They weren't going to make it. The door had auto-sealed behind them. Her feet slipped in the mud. Hyuga yelped and his feet went out from under him, sending up a splash of mud as he landed on his face. He crawled to his feet, leaving his glasses behind, and got up, Maya tugging on his shoulder. She looked up in time to see the flash as the cannon went off, the burst loosed from the end of the barrel. It lit the night sky like a second sun, casting the long low shadows of the Evas over the muddied mountain.

On pure instinct, she pushed Hyuga out of the way, and he rolled into one of the cable trenches. He looked up in horror and threw his hand up to meet her, but she was too late and pure light rolled through her, and she neither saw nor heard nor felt, but she was sure she was screaming.

* * *

Asuka felt dreamy, like floating. She lined up the reticle, not worried about the blinking warning about her power supply, and pulled the trigger, holding it while the gun spun up. It felt different this time, and some dull part of her worried over that as she held it true, blissfully cool after the Angel's beam cut out. It had gone back to drilling, and Shinji was screaming, grunting about armor breaches. She spared him a sidelong glance, and saw the Eva had stood up.

Lightning arced up and down its body, between its legs and shoulder pylons, and he'd tossed the shield, now a slagged mound of orange-hot goop. His eyes had gone white and his mouth refused to close, and his jaw was shaking as if he was cold. They had no shield, no protection. She had to kill it now, or they would both die. The gun fired.

The blast tore out of the gun, arcing across the landscape towards the Angel. The creature rose up again, shrieking, turning, its horrid sound making the very air quiver, and the bolt this time struck true. It tore through the creature's body and burst when it hit the air on the other side with a molten flash that light the night, heat and flame rolling over its perfectly smooth body. The Angel bobbed, listed.

Then, slowly, it rose up and the carved channel through its body healed, closing with a kind of crystalline groan. Asuka looked down and realized that the gun had melted in her hands, the barrel taking on a pathetic droop, still glowing and screaming. This was it. They were all dead. The beam came.

Shinji screamed at the top of his lungs, a loud gurgling shriek-roar that poured out of his mouth like thunder, turned tinny in her helmet speakers. Unit One stood up and _blazed_, light pouring out of the joints in her armor. All of Asuka's instruments went wild, and she heard scratchy bleating from the comms system- someone was yelling about electromagnetic pulses. Thunder rolled overhead as the sky lit up, a hundred lances of lighting leaping from cloud to cloud, the sound blurring together into a single, punishing rumble.

The beam from the Angels swept across the landscape, blazing so bright it washed all the color out of the world, left a purple afterimage in her vision. It struck empty air a thousand meters from the mountain and folded out, the light rolling along an invisible barrier. Shinji put the Eva's hand out, its fingers trembling from stretching, and took a step forward. Light poured out of his eyes, and the image of him on her HUD began to flicker and distort wildly, then winked out.

"What's happening?" Asuka screamed, "What is that? Is it the AT-Field?"

Someone, one of the techs, a man, called back to her. "It's not an AT-Field! It's some kind of magnetic distortion."

She couldn't see him, but she could hear him screaming.

"It's killing him!"

"There's nothing we can do. The Eva is rejecting the shutdown commands."

Asuka forced Unit Two to stand, ignoring the screaming of her joints. She could feel the Eva's heart pounding as she moved, trying to step closer to him. Unit One's helmet plating twisted and a section of wrenched free and peeled off, twisting on invisible currents of magnetic force. Flashing explosions rippled through the capacitors as the installation and the city below were bathed in darkness. The Angel's shriek grew to an ear-piercing roar and she felt a sting in her ear drums. Frantic, she pulled at her helmet and finally yanked it off, tossing it away before her ear drums burst, gagging and choking as the LCL flooded around her.

The Angel dumped all its power into the blast, and the barrier, whatever it was, began to peel back, began to fold. Asuka looked at it, the light stinging her eyes.

"Mama," she said.

Thunder. A peal of thunder boomed in her ears, and she felt it in her chest and realized with a start that the Eva felt it too, the sound rolling over the landscape, oppressive. The clouds overhead tore open, a circle of vapor rolling back as a brilliant light streaked out of the sky. She followed it with her eyes for a bare second before it slammed down into the Angel's glow and there was a bursting eruption of plating and earth as whatever it was tore straight through the Angel, and straight through armored shell of the Geofront into the cavern below.

The light from the Angel winked out, like throwing a switch. Asuka stared, dumbstruck. The Angel's body listed, tilting lazily to the side and something about it changed, the color shifted, losing its luster like glass growing dull from in age. In its center there was an expanding flower of red- blood. It tiled and tilted as it slid out of the sky and landed with a great ringing clash, a profusion of cracks gliding through its structure, shattering as it crashed into the ground. The livid red blood poured out of the cracks pouring down the city street. The slashing rain just ended, as if a great faucet had been shut off.

Unit One stumbled and Asuka rushed to Shinji's side, grunting as the bulk of the Eva slammed against her. She fell with him, rolling the other Unit onto its back, and brought hers into a crouch before she pulled the emergency decouple and broke synchronization. She clambered out of the hatch and breathed the too-hot, cloying night air as the rush of LCL threatened to tear her out of it and send her falling into space. She grabbed Unit One's shoulder pylon and clenched her teeth as she swung over empty air and slid clumsily down the Eva's neck towards the plug, her bile rising in her throat.

She crawled on all fours to the plug and when the cover over the emergency eject refused to budge, she focused and a tight beam of heat from her fingertip sliced through it. She grabbed the handle and yanked, putting her legs into it, and the plug slammed out, bouncing as it came to a stop. The plug hatch was too hot, melting the plugsuit to her skin. She pulled her hands back, flash-melted it from her hands, and grabbed the hatch with her bare skin and turned, wrenching with her entire body. It finally fell open.

Shinji lay across the seat. He'd torn the yoke free of the control panel, or so she thought- it looked almost like it had melted, twisted up into a strange, almost organic arrangement of metal. Everything in the plug was fried. Shinji's head had torn loose from the safety hardness and lolled to the side. She gingerly undid the clasps and slid it free.

His upper lip was crusted with blood and his eyes were lidded, but he was breathing. His eyes fluttered open and he turned to her, coughing slightly.

"Ow," he said.

* * *

Shinji sat on the medic's gurney for a while, letting them re-bandage his wounds and daub the dried blood from his upper lip. He desperately wanted a shower and a change, and he wanted to go home. What he didn't want was to deal with was Summers, who walked up to him easy as she pleased, throwing her coal black hair over her shoulder. She cocked her hip to the side and looked him up and down.

"That was quite the performance."

"Go to hell," said Shinji.

"I must admit, I'm impressed. Seeing you unlock your potential is so _splendid._ You have so much to offer the world, Shinji. So much more than you realize."

He looked at the medics. "Would you excuse us?"

The two men looked at him, at Summers, and each other, and backed off, making themselves scarce. Shinji lifted his hands slightly and flexed his fists, and the doors of the ambulance behind him folded together like curling petals, letting out a low, metallic groan.

"I'm not in the mood."

Summers sighed. "What is it with you and the property destruction? Someone has to pay for that."

"I'm not joking," said Shinji. "Get out of my sight. Right now."

She leaned close to him. She smelled of perfume and lavender soap and deodorant, but there was something wrong about her, and her breath was cold on his ear. "Don't test me, boy. Not all of us like to show off."

She leaned back, satisfied with herself.

"What did I tell you?" Asuka hissed.

Summers looked over her shoulder. Asuka stood with her arms folded under her breasts, her hair twisting on invisible currents of air as a faint glow crackled around her eyes. The temperature of the night air rose noticeably, like standing in front of a campfire that had been built up too high.

"I have plans for you, too, Princess," said Summers. "Neither one of you realizes how important you are. Two petulant children are not going to-"

Asuka snapped her fingers and a line of brilliant light cracked through the air and a singed lock of Summers' hair wafted to the ground, leaving behind the smell of ozone and burnt hair. Asuka stuck her bare hand under her armpit again and gave the older woman her best ten thousand watt glare.

Summers clenched her teeth. "How _dare _you. My stylist is going to murder me."

"You are such a girl," Asuka said, coldly. "In my father's name, I command you to leave us. Defy me and answer to von Doom."

Summers grinned a shark grin and stalked off, throwing her hair over her shoulder again. Shinji could have sworn it was as thick as before. Asuka rushed to his side, her own tresses settling back around her shoulders as the heat vanished from the air.

"Are you well?"

"No," Shinji sighed. "How about you?"

"Nothing I cannot handle. There are staff cars waiting for us, and the forward command center has showers set up."

Shinji nodded. Asuka nodded back, rather gravely, and disappeared into the night air. Shinji got up, sighing, and made his way up to the bunker. The promised shower was there, and stripping off his plugsuit felt like being skinned alive, but he was glad to be free of it. He put on a spare school uniform, except for the jacket, and left the shirt untucked. When he limped back down the stairs, he expected to run into his father, but Gendo was nowhere in evidence. Shinji waited a bit, then angrily dipped into the car and pulled the door shut behind him. The driver glanced at him in the mirror.

"Where to, sir? Home?"

"No," Shinji said, flatly. "Drive. I'll tell you where to go."

The driver shrugged, and Shinji put all the windows down. This late at night there was a chill, and the air smelled like ozone and mud, but he wanted to be _cool_. The memory of cooking alive in the plug made him shudder as he sank back into the seat, his wet hair mercifully cool in a mop on his scalp.

He dozed off before the car reached the city.

"Hey," Shinji said, yawning. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Sure," said the driver.

"If I ask you to drop me somewhere, can you keep it to yourself?"

The driver looked at him. "I've got kids."

"I'm sorry," said Shinji. "Just… I'll tell you where to stop, and walk from there."

"No, sir," said the driver. "I mean, I've got kids. I've got your back."

Shinji nodded in relief, and gave the driver the address for Hikari's apartment building. The rest of the ride was quiet enough, Shinji staring out the windows at the distant wreckage of the Angel's body and the stars, and the darkness slowly dying as the lights came back on as power was restored. When the limo pulled up to her building, Shinji got out, gave the driver a nod, and limped up the steps. He hit the buzzer.

Hikari's older sister answered. "Hello? Hikari?"

"It's Shinji."

Silence.

The door thumped. He opened it and headed for the elevator. When he turned, he saw Hikari running up the steps behind him. He held the door for her and she threw her arms around him. He winced, his skin still tender from phantom burns.

"Are you okay?" she said. "I saw lights and explosions and I was so scared! What was that thing?"

"I'm fine, and I don't know," said Shinji. "Nobody tells me anything."

They stepped into the elevator.

"What are you doing here?"

"I… it's complicated."

Hikari looked at him for a second, then kissed him as the doors closed, her lips gently brushing over his. He closed his eyes and drew in her scent and they both stood there awkwardly until the doors opened and she led him out into the hall, looking around. When they neared the door to her apartment, it flew open.

"Where-" Kodama snapped, then grabbed Hikari in a fierce hug.

"I'm sorry," Hikari pleaded. "I didn't mean to get separated from you."

"Don't do that again," said Kodama. "I have to see if I can get Dad on the phone. He's stuck at work. They've called everybody in for some kind of emergency procedure."

Shinji blinked. He'd never heard of any emergency procedure.

Kodama looked at him. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at home?"

"I can't go home," said Shinji. "It's complicated."

Kodama looked at him, half appraising, half considering. After what felt like forever she said, "Come inside. Are you hungry?"

* * *

Mari's phone rang. A moment later, the matrons were opening the shelter doors. She stood up and disentangled herself from the crowd, lifting the phone to the side of her head. Her mutation made phones awkward, so she usually used the speakerphone, but she didn't want to take a call from Asuka that way while others could hear them.

"Hello, kitten," said Asuka.

"Princess?" said Mari.

"I'm outside," said Asuka. "Come get me."

Mari blinked. Asuka never called her 'kitten'. That didn't sound like her.

"Are you okay? Did you hit your head or anything?"

"A little. A few cuts and bruises. I could use someone to lick my wounds."

Mari blinked, and pulled her lower lip under her fangs. "Okay, I'm coming."

She danced up the stairs to the first floor of the dorms and jogged outside. Other than a few students stretching their legs in the night air, there was no one around. She looked around and popped her claws with a flick of her fingers as she realized she couldn't smell Asuka.

Two iron hot pokers slammed into her back and a jolt of electricity ran through her body. She smelled burning flesh and writhed in pain, every muscle clenching at once, and rolled on the sidewalk. Her claws found purchase, sliced deep furrows in the concrete, and swept the air. She flailed and bucked until her vision fuzzed and she lay on the sidewalk, breathing hard. She felt her body knitting back together, repairing the burns, and then they hit her again, another jolt making her clench so hard her teeth cracked against one another, sending red hot shooters of pain through her skull. She lay on the ground again, wisps of smoke curling up from her fingers.

A chalk-pale woman with red eyes stood over her. Mari got up on her knees and feebly swiped at her with her claws, but hit nothing but air.

"I apologize, but this is a psychic projection. You can't actually harm me. Calm down, or I'm going to have to have my men shoot you."

"Fuck… you…" Mari rasped, pushing on her hands and knees.

She didn't hear the shots before they hit, three burning shards that punched through her guts and knocked her off her feet. She clutched her stomach and retched, trying feebly to dig out the bullets before her healing factor sealed them in her body. The pale skinned woman looked down at her.

"I have your princess, little cat. The more you fight, the more I'm going to have to punish her."

Two men grabbed her under the arms and pulled her up, dragging her towards a van. Someone was shouting, and she saw men in uniforms herding the students back towards the dorm. The evacuation alarm sounded, piercing and shrill in her superhuman hearing. She twitched at the sound, unable to muster the strength to shield her ears. She felt her strength coming back, and started to stand up. One of the man rammed a blade through her back, and she felt it slide through her and jut out beneath her chest and the strength went out of her legs as he yanked it back out.

"This can stop," said the pale woman. "Calm down and let us bring you in. It's for your own good. A healing factor like yours shouldn't be wasted."

"I'll k-kill you," Mari hissed, but they dragged her onto a gurney and dropped chains over her body. One of them bowed over her with a knife and cut at the healing skin of her stomach, flicking the bullets out with the tip of his blade.

"If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to have them sedate you."

"Won't," Mari rasped, "Work."

"Oh, normal tranquilizers won't, I know. These men have enough Thorazine to kill an elephant."

Mari thrashed against her bonds. If she could reach them with her claws, she might have a chance. One of her captors jammed a needle in her shoulder and rammed the plunger down, and she felt the burn as it delivered its contents into her bloodstream. She struggled more, but she suddenly felt weighty, heavy. It flowed down her arm and into her chest, and her heart skipped a beat, slowing, slowing.

Her head lolled to the side, and the pale woman fuzzed, becoming transparent. She touched Mari's cheek and it felt real enough, but cold, like a lizard's skin. Mari jerked, trying to force her eyes open, but she felt like a crushing weight was sinking through her chest.

"Such a pretty one, too. Don't you worry, little cat. Be a good girl, and I'll be the best mother you've ever had."

Mari spat at the air, and her eyes rolled back in her head and darkness swept in from everywhere to lay on her like a blanket.

* * *

Asuka stepped into the night air, bristling. Her phone was beginning to annoy her, and the probability of it melting had dramatically increased each time her call to Mari failed to go through. She stuffed it in her pocket as she stepped into the staff car and sank into the plush seat, blowing her loose wet locks out of her eyes. The partition between the passenger compartment and the driver rolled down.

"Take me back to the Academy," Asuka snapped.

"I don't think so."

Asuka sat up.

Summers sat in the front seat. She turned and draped her arm over the partition. "I'm afraid you and I have an appointment, Princess."

Asuka sat up, feeling the heat build within her, mirroring her rage. "I am not amused."

"You should be flattered. Of all my new pets, you're the most dangerous. I decided to handle you personally."

Asuka sat up, and then slammed back into the seat. A wave of pressure rolled over her body, as though a great weight had dropped into her lap. Summers' grin widened, and her eyes _changed_, the red of her irises expanding out until there was no white left. Asuka clenched her teeth and readied herself to melt the car to slag, but an ice cold railroad spike rammed into her skull and her body was suddenly a distant memory as she squirmed in the seat. It was like falling into deep water, and then she wasn't in the car anymore.

She ran, feeling cold, polished stone under her bare feet. Everything seemed huge, even moreso than normal in Castle von Doom. She heard someone chasing after her, naked heels slapping on the stone floor.

"Come back, Asuka," a familiar voice called. "I need you."

Terror spiked through her, like icewater running down her spine, and she ran. She nearly tripped over her nightgown, picked herself up, and sprinted, but the corridor had no end. She looked over her shoulder and saw the woman walking down the hall, tall and stiff-backed, her head hanging in shame, long red-gold hair hiding her face. Asuka's chest clenched and she broke into a full sprint, screaming, but the figure was always just behind her.

She heard Summer's voice. _There is nothing you can hide from me._

Her foot went out from under her and she went down hard, a jolt from her palms running up her arms. She turned to see the thing in the nightgown stumbling towards her, reaching out with pale hands flecked with graveyard dirt. Asuka started to rise, but cold fingers dug into her shoulders. Hollow eye sockets stared out from filthy red hair into her own, and she screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

* * *

Ritsuko sat at her desk, waiting as the lights came back on with a heavy _thunk_ and the monitors all around her rolled back to life, green screens flashing. She wasted no time restoring her MAGI instance, getting the system back up and running so she could go through Summers' files. She rubbed her hands at the thought, barely glancing at the MAGI feeds as she brought up her own terminal. She jammed the thumb drive in as soon as she could and started sifting through it.

There was so much that exploring it properly would take hours. She had thousands of files in a folder marked SPECIMENS, another marked BLOODLINES, but she was most interested in the video feeds that Summers had deleted, and the data from the Unit Zero activation tests. It was all here, and Ritsuko was nearly salivating. That vile bitch's secrets were all laid bare before her, and the feeling made her ecstatic. She looked at the urn.

"Almost there, Mom. I know this is connected somehow, I-"

There was a series of video clips in Summers' files, and the file names matched the MAGI's security logs. Trembling, she opened the first, and blinked. It was her lab, about a week before Mother was killed. Ritsuko watched Naoko bustling about in the lab, drinking coffee and chatting with Maya. Ritsuko would have been at the conference at that time. The file was totally innocuous, just Ritsuko and Maya talking about something.

Until Maya left.

Naoko sat down and opened the very same terminal Ritsuko was using. Ritsuko couldn't see what she was doing, but she looked shocked. She went over whatever it was again. Ritsuko turned the sound up and listened as Naoko picked up a voice recorder and spoke into it.

"It's all here… I was right all along. Someone tampered with the system. Ikari's death was no accident, but I don't… Gendo would never harm her, and he doesn't have the knowhow anyway. Fuyutsuki is madly in love with her. I would suspect Kyoko, but she'd been in Latveria for six months and these settings were checked over by Ikari herself an hour before the test, so someone must have tampered with it after she configured the experiment. Besides, I don't think Kyoko is that much of a bitch, no matter how she behaves. I don't know who else would…"

Summers burst into the room, striding across the screen. "Akagi."

"What are you doing here?" said Naoko.

Summers didn't answer. Instead, she squared herself up and Naoko's jaw drooped, and her eyes went slack.

"I see," said Summers. "Forget I was here."

"I forget you were here," Naoko slurred, almost falling out of her chair.

Ritsuko stared, open-mouthed. She started when she noticed Summers' reflection in the window behind the computers. Her eyes were red, all red, and there was some kind of red crystal embedded in her skull just below her hairline. It sank in and her eyes returned to normal as she stalked out. Naoko sat for a moment, then sat up, blinking.

Ritsuko looked over the files. She saw the one from the night of her mother's death and swallowed, hard. The code suggested that it came from the cameras in the command center, which was where she died from the fall. Ritsuko's fingers hovered over the touchpad until she forced herself to tap it and open the file.

Naoko was fiddling with one of the consoles, cursing quietly to herself as she lifted up one of the panels to get at the wiring underneath, probably worried about an upcoming test. The system would have needed it. She sighed, and pulled out her phone. Ritsuko listened, verbatim, to the message she'd heard when she returned to Tokyo-3. Naoko looked around nervously, then froze. Ritsuko saw her mouth _No, _then start shouting at the shrill, laughing voice that taunted her. She backed towards the railing and Ritsuko's heart leapt into her throat, as if she could reach through the screen and catch her. She held the sides of the monitor, the plastic creaking under her grasp.

No. It couldn't be.

Ritsuko watched the Green Goblin step into view. A chill ran up her spine, and tears formed on her cheeks. Some lunatic in a costume had murder her mother. Naoko dropped the phone and was shouting, screaming for help. The Goblin's voice was light, lilting, sarcastic.

"You killed Yui Ikari."

"I didn't do it!" she shouted, struggling as the Goblin seized her by the hair. He was so strong, so fast, and laughing, always laughing, shrill and high, dragging her out of the command center.

"What the hell?" Ritsuko sobbed. "Where…"

The activation test. There was footage from Unit Zero's plug. A chill went up her spine. It was nothing at first- just an unmoving view of the inside of the plug. Then, the door yanked open and Naoko fell inside. Her hair was matted with blood and she had a black eye. She landed hard, sprawled over the too-small, teenage sized seat, and immediately launched herself at the door as it slammed shut. LCL flooded in around her.

Ritsuko paled. No suit, no helmet, nothing. The fluid rose around her.

"I didn't do it!" she moaned, tugging on the hatch. "Please, it wasn't me!"

Ritsuko covered her mouth. Naoko floated in the LCL, trying to get her bearings. She watched her mother fight to hold in her breath until it bubbled out of her mouth and the LCL rushed in. She hacked and coughed, clutching at her chest, then jerked.

"Oh," Ritsuko whispered, "Oh no."

They were trying to synchronize her. Naoko jerked, spasming as her body tried to deal with the sudden intrusion of nervous signals from the Eva. Without it calibrated for her, without a plugsuit, it must have felt like she was dipped into boiling water. She screamed, bubbling the LCL around her face as she pounded on the wall of the entry plug. Ritsuko desperately wanted to turn it off, but she had to watch. She had to _see_.

"Let me out!" Naoko pleaded, "You can't do this! Don't do this to me!"

Ritsuko felt like she was going to throw up.

"For God's sake! Let me out! _It hurts, let me out!"_

Naoko jerked, her body went rigid, and then she went still, and the Eva shut down.

"Son of a bitch," Ritsuko hissed, and clenched her fists. She pounded them on the table. Her phone rang.

"What the hell do you want?" she said, snapping it to her ear.

"I, uh, this is Aoba."

"Get on with it."

"The operation…" he drew in a deep breath, "Was a success."

"Fine," Ritsuko snapped, "Whatever. Have Maya-"

"She's gone."

"What?" said Ritsuko, feeling her stomach sinking into the floor. "What do you mean?"

"She and Hyuga got caught outside while the gun was being fired. Hyuga's in surgery now, he should be okay. We… we can't find Maya. She's just gone."

"Oh my God," Ritsuko sobbed, squeezing the phone.

"I…" Aoba started. "We're starting the recovery. I'll keep you posted."

"What were they doing out there?"

"There was a fault in one of the couplings. Summers…"

Ritsuko shrieked at the top of her lungs and hurled the phone into the wall. It shattered, bits of plastic and electronic guts flying everywhere, and she slammed her fists into the table until they hurt, sobbing. Not Maya, too.

There was a knock at her door. She froze.

"Who is it?"

"Ritsuko," a thin voice said, "Please."

Slowly, haltingly, she opened the door. Someone pushed in; someone in a Nerv uniform with a lab coat pulled over her head rushed into the room and plopped into one of the chairs, sobbing.

"Help me."

"Hey," Ritsuko said, trying to keep her voice even. "Who…"

The lab coat slid to the floor. Maya sat in the seat, sobbing, staring at Ritsuko with big, pleading eyes. Her irises were yellow, almost gold, and slitted, the way a cat's are. Her skin was a bright green, and for a moment, Ritsuko thought she saw freckles, but the dark spots under her eyes were _scales_, fine, almost reptilian ones that spotted her cheeks. She clutched at her too-small uniform, which was torn and strained over her chest; it had popped open over her stomach and revealed a scaly, green midriff. Her hair had grown out a little and turned a dark green, and her hands were covered in scales, each tipped in a claw. Tears flowed freely over her cheeks, dripping from her chin.

"What's happening to me?"

* * *

"He can stay here tonight," Kodama snapped, sticking a finger in Hikari's face. "Father would not approve of this."

"I didn't know," Hikari whispered back, glancing at the living room, where Shinji sat on the couch with his head on his hands. "What is he supposed to do? Go home?"

"Hikari-"

"You heard what he told you. That woman in his house."

Kodama, flustered, clenched her fists. "Frankly, I think he's overreacting. How long has his mother been gone?"

Hikari's eyes widened. "What?"

Kodama started. "I…"

"How can you say that?" said Hikari. "You know how it feels."

"This is cute, Hikari, but I don't want you to get hurt."

Kodama spun on her heels and disappeared into her bedroom. Hikari glanced over her shoulder. She needed a shower and sleep, but she ducked into her room pulled on some old sleeping clothes and walked towards the living room. Kodama popped out of her bedroom.

"He's a guest in our house but you are _not _sleeping with him, am I clear? He's on the couch."

Hikari looked at her for a second, before she disappeared into her room again. Sighing, Hikari walked into the living room and dropped on the couch next to him. He lifted his head up and folded his hands between his knees.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Gingerly, she put her hand on his back. "I don't know, but we'll figure something out. You should get some sleep."

"I'm not tired," he said.

"It's almost four in the morning," said Hikari, glancing at the clock.

"Don't they cancel school after attacks?" said Shinji, yawning.

"Yeah, but still…"

"Okay," I said. "I'm on the couch, huh?"

"Yeah," said Hikari. "Kodama's just worried about me, that's all."

"I wish I had a sister," Shinji said, absently.

Hikari shifted a little closer to him, and he sort of fell against her, their breath mingling. She moved closer to him and his head tilted and their lips met, and she took his hands in hers. She only meant to kiss him goodnight but the kiss drew out and deepened. His kisses were just like him- he mashed his lips into hers, realized he was coming on too strong, pulled back, and then settled into it until it was just right. Hikari realized her hands were on his back, sliding up under his shirt, and her eyes fluttered open. He stared at her for a second, but she pushed into him, lowering him back onto the couch until she lay on top of him.

She felt an electric flutter as his hand settled on her hip and dragged slowly upwards, pulling at the loose fabric of her shirt until it was under it, resting on her bare skin. She settled her weight on him and kissed him again and his arms were around her waist, as if he was afraid to move his hands any higher, but then his hand slid up her back and he pulled her close to him, and she felt very warm. Their legs tangled together, and she smelled the soap on him.

She pulled back. "I should-"

Her eyes flew open. When she felt the buzz at the back of her neck she thought it would be Kodama sneaking into the room to catch them, but it intensified, grew from a faint twinge to almost pain, from every direction at once. The front door to the apartment caved in, the wood shredded by a heavy black cylinder, a battering ram, and she heard muffled shouting. She was already moving, clambering up the couch, pushing Shinji down with her foot as he tried to get up. He moved in slow motion, his hair twisting like it was underwater. Everything slowed as she watched the ram draw back and a clutch of black-suited men taking agonizingly slow steps into her home.

She heard a tinkle of crashing glass and something rolled in through the window and bounced against the couch. On pure instinct she grabbed Shinji and pulled him up, twisting in the air, kicking down hard enough to flip the couch onto its side as she took off. Holding him to her side with one arm under his shoulders she grabbed the ceiling with her hand, pivoted, and twisted in the air.

The metal pumpkin rolled to a stop on the floor. Its eyes flashed, and a thick plume of green gas poured out of its mouth. Hikari coughed at it, covering her mouth, and dropped down onto the kitchen table, lowering Shinji to his feet. He tensed, and the drawers and cupboard flew open, forks and knives and spoons dancing out, moving on the air as though on invisible strings. Her limbs felt heavy and she stumbled, dropping hard on the floor. Shinji motioned with his hand but the silverware moved drunkenly, dropping out of the air to clatter on the floor as he sagged to his knees.

In the distance, she heard the most terrible laughter.


	11. The Truth Is

**_Author's Note:_**

**_For those of you following the story with email alerts: last week, there was a problem with FF's alert system. There _was_ an update last week, but the system may not have alerted you. __  
_**

* * *

_Previously on…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_After a disastrous attempt to test Unit Zero, which proved fatal to the sixth Rei Ayanami clone, Tokyo-3 was besieged by the Fifth Angel, able to project a monstrously powerful energy beam that nearly killed Shinji and forced Nerv to take extreme measures. _

_Ritsuko took advantage of the chaos by sneaking into Summers' lab during the blackout as the city's power grid was pushed through Asuka's fusion gun. _

_During the operation, Maya followed Hyuga outside to repair vital equipment in between shots. Both were caught outside, but Maya took the brunt of the radiation from the blast. _

_After the battle, Shinji, Asuka, and Mari were taken captive by Summers' operatives while Ritsuko learned the truth about her mother's death- murder by failed Evangelion synchronization, committed by the Green Goblin. Only moments later she was confronted by Maya, confused and frightened by a mutation induced by the massive dose of radiation she received. _

_Yet, Ritsuko was not the only one taking advantage of the unusual conditions brought on by the unusual operation to kill the Angel. Summers used the opportunity to move to take control of the base and the city. _

_And then, buried somewhere on the Geofront floor, there's still the matter of the unknown object that destroyed the Fifth Angel with a single blow…_

* * *

**_"_THE TRUTH IS"  
**

* * *

Shinji's eyes opened. He felt like his head was stuffed with cotton, and he was freezing. He realized he'd been stripped to the waist and his bare back was pressed against a metal table of some kind, one that pivoted so he stood almost upright. His hands were locked against it, spreading his arms over his head. Something was tight around his throat, choking him a little every time he tried to swallow. He still smelled something sickly sweet in his nostrils, and gasped for breath. He turned and saw Asuka on another table, strapped down the same way, but thankfully fully clothed. She had a collar around her neck, a silvery band.

He tried to pull it away. He tried to pull his own away. He tried to move the table, the shackles holding him down. Nothing budged. Trying only made his head hurt, and the collar feel like it was tightening around his throat. Only when he relaxed could he breathe again. Asuka stirred, but she looked like she was asleep, her hair flopped down over her face, swaying softly from her breath.

Summers stepped into view and shrugged out of her lab coat. Shinji's eyes widened. Under it she wore something that looked more appropriate for the bedroom than a laboratory, a tight leather _thing_ that left her back and shoulders and a fair amount of her pale backside bare, and clung to her chest, and a pair of black stockings and heels. She drew her hair back in her hands and tied it in a loose ponytail, then touched lipstick to her lips.

"What are you _doing," _Shinji rasped.

"Slipping into something more comfortable. Honestly, I don't know how I managed with all of these _clothes."_

Shinji choked a little. "What is this?"

"You mean, why can't you use your powers?"

She tapped his collar with her long fingernail. "Wonderful, isn't it? Much better than dosing you with Mutex. It wouldn't work on you, anyway. I never had any intention of suppressing mutant powers when I created the drug."

"What?" said Shinji.

"It suppresses powers, yes," said Summers, striding back to the table where her lab coat lay. "But it has an interesting effect when taken by a pregnant woman. Like any environmental pressure, it forces adaptation."

Shinji blinked. "Evolution doesn't work that way. It takes-"

Summers hissed at him. "Oh, you are a smart one, aren't you? That definitely comes from your mother's side of the family. I would have much preferred she not dilute her genes with your moronic father, but dear Kyoko had the poor manners to be born as a girl. Still, enough of the Ikari line's genetics are intact in you, and I couldn't have asked for a better sire for the Princess."

"W-what?"

"The marriage contract," said Summers, moving close to him. Her weird, antiseptic smell filled his nostrils. "Was my idea, of course. All I had to do was whisper it in your father's ear and put a little push behind it."

She grinned, tracing her finger down his chest. "It was easy, getting into his head. I could have brute forced it and just crushed his mind, but it was so much more fun. It made _adapting _to my situation so much easier, trust me. More pleasant than I expected."

Shinji gagged at her touch.

"Still, he was more of an appetizer. After I breed you with the girl, I think I might keep you around for a toy."

Shinji thrashed against his bonds, but they refused to budge. "You're out of your mind."

Summers laughed, giving him a dismissive wave. "Yes, yes, they called me mad and all that. Don't worry, Shinji. I'm not going to have you make the beast with two backs with the Princess. I've already extracted the tissue samples I need. It's better this way. I'll have more control over the final product."

She flounced away and touched Asuka's throat, taking her pulse. "When Yui had a boy and Kyoko a girl, I saw decades of planning coming to fruition. Then you suddenly sprout a pair and go out and get yourself a girlfriend. I can't say I'm shocked by that. Puberty hit you like a freight train."

She folded her arms under chest. "On top of that, the Princess has the gall to be a _lesbian._ Half a century of planning and observation ruined because this one bats for the other team."

"Decades?" said Shinji. "What? You can't be that old."

She laughed, running her hand through her hair. "I should be flattered, even if I cheat. I'm…" she trailed off, her eyes pointing up as she mouthed the calculations. "I'll be one hundred and sixty-eight years old this year."

Shinji's jaw dropped.

"Don't tell your father. He thinks I'm twenty-nine."

Shinji gagged. "Who are you?"

She hopped up on the table and crossed her long legs, leaning on her knees, and smiled.

"Natalie Summers. I have a birth certificate and everything. Of course, I was born Nathaniel Essex. Some people call me _Mister Sinister._"

Shinji sputtered. "You… my father…"

She laughed, dropping off the table onto her feet with a bounce. She stalked towards him. "I was annoyed, at first, that my cloning process could only create _female _clones. You see, even with my shape shifting abilities, the, ah, internals remain the same, so I am biologically female. It took an _adjustment_."

She ran her hands down her sides and swiveled her hips. "I _like_ this body."

Shinji pressed himself against the table as she ran her fingers down his cheeks. "Don't try to hide it, boy. There are no secrets from me. You feel it, don't you?"

He did. It was like her fingers were sinking into his head, crawling around in his brain. His stomach rolled, and he thought he might throw up, his bile rising to his throat.

"I know all about your little fantasies." She nodded her head towards Asuka. "About her. She should be flattered. You started early with those. Oh, and then there's that teacher of yours, Katsuragi, and the Makinami girl. If you're feeling creative, you think about all of them at once. Then there's Hikari. I wonder if she knows how you picture her under that silly little costume she wears, and…" Summers gasped in mock surprise. "Her _sister._ Kodama. Oh, you naughty child. She would never dress like that."

Shinji tried to turn his head out of her grasp, but her fingers were like steel. "Then there's _me._ Oh, did you think I wouldn't know? You bad, bad boy."

Her eyes welled with crocodile tears. "You think about _hitting me, _and _choking _me. I'm a _girl_, Shinji."

"Stop it," Shinji pleaded, gasping for breath.

"It's a good thing I like bad boys." She pressed her lips to his ear. "Maybe I'll let you call me Mommy."

Shinji screamed.

"Summers," Asuka rasped. "Essex. Whatever you are."

She turned to Asuka, grinning. "Ah, she wakes up. Did you enjoy your little nightmare?"

"I'm going to get out of this," Asuka growled. "I am going to kill you. I am going to end you. You will wish you had never slithered into that body."

Summers grinned. "I'm glad you're awake. You're just in time to hear your little girlfriend scream."

* * *

Ritsuko was losing her mind.

Maya was huddled in the corner, her legs pulled up to her chest, sobbing into her arms and trying to hide herself under a torn lab coat that Ritsuko just realized was actually hers. Aoba stared at her, stammering, having burst into her office just moments before. On top of that, she'd just finished watching her mother murdered in the worst way she could imagine, and the office was suddenly full of screaming technicians running around shouting at each other and trying to make phone calls.

"Everybody _shut up!"_ Ritsuko bellowed, clenching her fists.

Silence.

"What the hell is going on?" Ritsuko demanded, grabbing Aoba by the collar of his uniform.

"I…"

"Deep breath," Ritsuko said, testily.

"The Angel was destroyed. The gun failed, but something fell out of the atmosphere and killed the Angel-"

"_What?"_

"…and kept going. It went right through the armor plating and cratered the floor of the Geofront. Summers issued an alert and she's got the civilian evac alarms sounding, and there's a fleet of helicopters heading into the city right now. Three of the landed outside the school, they're at the hospital, they're everywhere. There's a lockdown order. No one in or out of the base. Most of our people are still topside."

"Magi," Ritsuko shouted, "Get me some eyes on those helicopters."

The screens around her flickered to life as the system brought up feeds from the external cameras. There were security cams all over the city, a vast collection of feeds so numerous and complex only the world's most powerful supercomputer could follow them all. Ritsuko didn't like what she was seeing. The helicopters rolling overhead and coming around for landings all over the city were unfamiliar to her.

"Those are MI-26's," said Aoba, studying the screen. "Halos. Russian transports."

Ritsuko froze. "Did you say Russian?"

She looked into the office. There were maybe ten, twenty techs that managed to get back on the first bus, before Summers ordered the lockdown.

The PA system whined.

"Attention Nerv Staff. This is Natalie Summers. As most of you are aware, there is an emergency situation in progress. An unknown object has fallen in the Geofront. Until the emergency is concluded, I am issuing a fist stage alert. The Commander and Executive Officer have been incapacitated. As the head of the Evolutionary Sciences division, I am assuming command. At my request, reinforcements have been deployed from the mainland to secure the city."

Ritusko looked around, the other techs eyeing her nervously. Maya continued to sob.

"All personnel currently in the base are ordered to remain at their current stations until the situation has been resolved. The bridge and the evolutionary science labs are off limits without my express authorization. All communications have been locked down. My security forces have been authorized to employ lethal force to enforce these directives."

Ritsuko could almost hear the smirk in her voice.

"Remain calm, and have a nice day."

"What does she mean, lethal force?" said Aoba.

"She means she'll shoot us," Ritsuko snapped.

Maya wailed.

Ritsuko rushed to her side and pulled the coat away from her face, and hugged her. "You're going to be okay."

"How is _this_ okay?" Maya snapped, her voice turning into a gurgling scream. "I'm a freak!"

"Doctor Akagi, you need to see this," one of the techs said. "The news-"

"MAGI, bring it up in here."

One of her monitors flickered and turned over to the main city news station. A crawl along the bottom was repeating Summers' orders, advising citizens to remain in their homes while the anchors talked about the video looping on the screen. Ritsuko stared in shock at the blurred figure of a man in purple and green, astride some kind of man-sized rocket glider. The video was shaky and blurry and the focus couldn't keep up with the object's movements, but it was him, she was sure of it.

More video, and more shots of the helicopters rolling in. Three of them landed on the main campus of the Academy, as Aoba said, and there were more. One of them was touching down on the helipad on the hospital roof. She could clearly see men in fatigues with rifles and submachine guns pouring out. She pulled the phone from the desk and tried Gendo's number.

It rung twice, and Summers answered.

"Akagi. I was wondering when you were going to call."

"What are you doing, Summers?"

"I'm handling this," she hissed. "You stay in your lab and if you're lucky I won't have you shot. This has been a long time coming. If you're smart, you'll stay out of my way."

Ritsuko ground her teeth. "I guess I'm not that smart, then. Be seeing you."

"I'm looking forward to it," Summers chuckled, and hung up.

Ritsuko slammed the phone down, wincing at the shock that ran up her hand. Her back twinged, and she clenched her teeth again.

"Does anybody know where the pilots are?"

"They went home," said Aoba.

"Find out," said Ritsuko. "I want to know who had them and when they last saw them, and I want to know now."

"What do we do?"

Ritsuko looked around.

"This is how we're going to play it. MAGI! Lock down the lab."

"Yes, Doctor Akagi."

"Summers may be able to override my security protocols. I want you all to barricade the door with anything you can find. Tables, chairs, your workstations, pile it all up."

She opened her desk drawer and pulled out her pistol. "Everybody grab your sidearms."

"I l-l-left mine at home," Maya whined, rubbing at her arms, worrying little marks in her sleeve with her clawed fingers.

She handed hers to Maya. "Take mine."

"What about you?"

"I don't need…" said Ritsuko. "MAGI. Deploy the Mark Three."

"Mark Three what?" said Aoba.

She didn't answer. The doors to the cargo elevator at the rear of the room opened, and her new armor, decked out in black and gold laser-scattering paint, rose up. Ritsuko shrugged out of her coat and pulled off her sweatshirt, stripping down to her undersuit.

"MAGI," said Ritsuko. "See if you can get me some feeds into Summers' labs."

"Those subsystems are locked out. I apologize."

"Since when do they talk?" said Aoba.

"Has she locked out the PA system?"

"Negative."

"Good."

The armor unfolded as she approached, the spinal shunts extending to meet her back as she stepped backwards into it.

"I'm doing to draw them away from the rest of you. Stay here," she said. "I'll be back."

* * *

The lights were starting to come back on. There was a low hum and Sakura's monitors all bleeped in annoyance as the power switched over, and somewhere in the distance, the diesel generator that Toji had barely noticed went silent. He looked around and stood up, yawning. Rei had fallen asleep, drifting off with her head on his shoulder. It was time to go; someone would probably be in to check on Sakura.

As he stood up, Rei's head lifted up and she blinked her big eyes, yawning. Toji felt a weird stir as he watched her. He'd never thought of yawning as cute before. He looked away from Rei hurriedly, focusing on Sakura. He took her hand in his, holding tightly as Rei stepped up behind him.

"We'll be back to see you later, Sis. I have to go make sure the house is okay. I'm sure Dad will be up as soon as-"

Toji trailed off as the evacuation alarm sounded again, spinning up from a low whine. Blue lights flashed from the hospital walls, joined by a hateful screeching sound.

"What?" Toji snapped. "Another one?"

Rei moved to the window. "I do not think so."

Suddenly, Sakura's hand squeezed his, hard. Toji sputtered and locked his eyes on hers as they fluttered open and her head turned to face him. Somehow, she sat up, but she was shaky it pained him to watch her, or would have if he wasn't ecstatic.

"Sakura!" he shouted, throwing his arms around her.

"Get out," she croaked, her voice dry from weeks of disuse.

"What?" said Toji. He looked around for a glass of water, or something. "Here, let me get you-"

"You have to go. Now," she rasped, "They're coming."

"They who?"

He heard a screaming and shouting in another language, and something hit the door, hard. A man with a thick Russian accent shouted, "Open this door! Now!"

"They're here," Sakura wheezed, grabbing at him. She looked at Rei. "Get him out of here. Please!"

Rei's mouth opened and closed, and she hugged herself.

"Not without you," said Toji, and the door boomed again. A piece of the fake wood laminate skittered across the floor.

"Open door or we will shoot!"

No!

Rei jumped onto the bed, grabbed Sakura's hand and squeezed the back of Toji's neck, and sucked in a deep breath. There was a heavy thump and sulfur shot up his nose, and he coughed, losing his balance as his feet touched carpeted floor. He fell, but not before he saw Sakura, still in her hospital gown, collapse on the bed, clenching her teeth in agony as her cast pounded the floor. Rei stumbled and fell on her hands and knees, out of breath.

He looked around. They were home!

"Toji," Sakura groaned, "Pick up my leg."

"But-"

"Just do it!"

Gingerly, he grasped her cast under the ankle and lifted it, his insides turning to jelly as she screamed through her clenched teeth. She twisted and he moved to rest her cast on the couch, breathing hard at the sight of her in so much pain.

"You have to trust me," she said, "This is going to sound crazy, but do it."

"Do what?"

"Rip my cast off."

"_What?"_

She breathed hard and took in a long breath. "Put your hands here and here, and pull."

"I can't-"

"Yes," she ground her teeth, "You can. You have to. We don't have much time. Rei," she turned to Rei, "Go upstairs and get me some of my clothes, quick!"

"How do you know my name?" Rei whispered.

"Please, just do as I say!"

Rei nodded and bolted shakily up the steps. Toji wondered how moving all three of them so far would wear on her, and swallowed. He was still holding Sakura's cast. He looked at her and she nodded, and he pulled at it, flexing his back. He gasped and strained, but nothing happened.

"Harder," she said, calmly. "You can do it. Think about how badly you want it."

Suddenly, all at once, the cast broke apart, spraying him with chips of plaster. Sakura grunted and lifted her red, swollen leg in her hands, and began chanting something in a language he'd never heard before, her eyes growing unfocused. He heard a horrible popping sound and realized her leg was _moving_, the bones shifting around under her muscle. He heard the most horrible crunching sound, like a dead chicken bring ripped apart, and she threw her head back and screamed, arching her back into the couch as the popping sounds grew louder.

Rei stood stock still on the stairs, carrying a pile of clothes.

Sakura panted for breath, and ran her hand down her thick and calf, then flexed her muscles. She put her bare foot down and slowly, haltingly, stood up. Toji sucked in a breath, ready to hear her horrifying scream as she put her weight on her fractured leg, but she took a step.

"Pants," she rasped, and Rei rushed to her side.

Toji turned around as she dressed, moving with shocking agility. She tugged on a pair of uniform pants and dumped a t-shirt over her head, throwing her hospital gown in a ball at the other end of the couch, then took a deep breath. She looked at Rei.

"Can you get us out of here?"

"Not very far," Rei gasped. She'd gone even paler than usual, and looked wobbly on her feet. Toji moved to steady her. "Not both."

"Great," Sakura snapped. "I don't have a teleport spell ready."

"Spell?" said Toji. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm a sorceress. I don't have time to explain," Sakura said, hurriedly. "I saw what's going on and I came back to my body. Stephen is going to kill me."

"Who?"

"I've been busy. We should go, now. Out the back door."

She grabbed Rei and kissed her cheek. "Thanks for watching my stupid brother for me."

Rei blinked a few times. "I… He…"

"Come on," said Sakura.

Lights flashed through the windows, and Toji heard something, big vehicles maybe, rumbling towards the house. He turned around in time to see the lights focus on the three of them, casting long shadows up the back staircase.

"You in there!" a Russian accent bellowed, "Come outside now!"

Toji looked at Sakura. She mumbled something and folded her hands in a funny way, sticking her two fingers out while folding her middle and ring fingers to her palms, and her eyes started to glow.

Okay.

"You have until the count of five," a smaller, nearer voice said. "One… five."

The door kicked in, and a girl walked into his house. Toji thought he remembered her from school. He didn't talk to her much, she was one of the new kids, kind of a loner. Mara or Mana or something. She was wearing a black bodysuit with freaking grenades on her belt and a pair of blades stuck out from between her knuckles on either hand, and one from each foot, stuck through the toe of her military boots.

"Rei," she said calmly, "Mother wants to see you."

"Like hell," Toji snapped.

Mana casually swiped her arm at him, and he caught her claws on his forearm. His t-shirt opened up where the touched him, but they sparked off his skin.

"Huh," said Mana.

"Get out of my house," Toji roared, and kicked her in the gut.

With a look of utter shock on her face, she lifted up and sailed back out through the door, her claws cutting little furrows in the door frame as she slashed at them for purchase. She rolled across the front sidewalk in front of a pair of freaking tanks and came up in a crouch.

"Open fire!" she screamed.

"Run!" Toji shouted, throwing himself between the front of the house and the girls.

Gunfire was _loud._ He felt it every time the guns went off, the big machine guns going _crack-crack-crack,_ so loud it should have hurt, but didn't. He looked around and saw chunks of wall and masonry flying as Rei and Sakura rushed towards the back of the house.

"They're in the back yard!" Sakura shouted, pulling Rei into the kitchen. She snapped some of her funny words and the countertop ripped itself off and landed in front of them, bullets knocking pieces of it away.

Toji realized he was standing in the open as the gunfire turned the front of his house into a pile of debris. He blinked when he realized the little pokes he felt were the bullets, slapping off his arms and legs, shredding his shirt but leaving his skin intact. He looked out at the freaking tanks and bellowed in rage and frustration and charged forward, not knowing quite why.

He took a running leap off the front step and when he landed, the steps exploded behind him in a shower of wood splinters- not because of the gunfire but because of him. The whole house groaned and the impact as he landed rippled through the ground, sending a spider-web of cracks across the sidewalk and into the street. The tanks actually rocked on their treads.

One of them leveled its big gun, a freaking cannon, and fired. For a sheer second he felt the shell actually hitting him, a tube of metal that wasn't pointy at all hitting him square in the chest, and then it exploded. Heat washed over him, and he felt scratches and a sudden wave of force that should have torn him to shreds.

He didn't _budge_. He was still standing in the spot, the concrete under his feet folded up around him like flower petals. He stared down at himself, awestruck at his shredded clothes and unmarked skin. Then he looked at the tank, and he screamed.

When he ran forward, the ground pounded with each step, waves of energy rolling in front of him. He shouldered into the damned tank like a freight train, expecting to crush his shoulder to powder, but the steel plating tented around him and the whole thing lifted up, rocked back on its treads, and skittered backwards, scraping furrows in the street. He turned and charged the other one, dipping low, and brought his shoulder up as he slammed into it. The metal groaned and all fifty tons of it lifted up and rolled back as he stood up, pushing into it. It groaned and tipped up, then slammed down on its side, the main gun sagging until it hit the street.

"Good show," said Mana.

She stood behind him. Half of her face was badly burned, and her arm hung limp at her side. She blinked her good eye and touched her claws to Rei's throat.

"Don't move."

He looked at Rei. "Do your thing!"

"I can't," Rei said, hoarsely. "I'll take her with me."

_Damn it!_

"Sakura-"

His sister edged towards Mana from behind, her hands wreathed in some kind of weird orange glow that made little words in the air around her outstretched fingers.

Mana sniffed and touched her claws to Rei's pale skin just a bit harder, and a tiny trickle of blood formed at the points.

"Don't push me, boy."

"Sakura, it's okay," he said, holding his hands out. "Don't hurt her."

"I'm not going to," said Mana. "Mother will take care of that."

Mother? What?

Toji ground his teeth, and he felt the ground under him shifting, shaking. Mana looked at him and bared her teeth. The wound on her head was closing with a horrid sucking sound, fresh hair sprouting from her rapidly healing scalp.

"You're too late. It'll be here any second."

"What?"

Some kind of cylinder smacked into his front lawn, burying itself in the ground.

"Sakura! Run!"

She bolted, leaving him facing Rei as thick gas sprayed out of the cylinder, filling the air with a sickly-sweet cloud. His vision tilted lazily, and the ground rushed up to meet him.

* * *

"W-what did you say?" Asuka gasped, clenching her trembling fists.

She would not show fear. She would not give this monster the satisfaction. Shinji was weeping softly to himself, his chin resting on his chest. For once, she didn't blame him. She knew what Summers could do, and the things she said… she would be angry with him for picturing her naked later. She had to get them out of this now.

Then, she saw the tank rolling into the room. Summers pushed it lightly with one hand, though it must have been heavy. It was filled with liquid, water maybe, and attached to the side was a tank of some bubbling gray goop, a molten metal of some kind. Atop the tank was a steel platform on tracks, designed to be lowered into it. Summers snapped her fingers and four masked men carried Mari in, holding her by the arms and legs. She was out cold, her eyes glazed over.

"What did you do to her?" Asuka demanded, pulling at her bonds.

"I had my men dose her up with some tranquilizers. The idiots I sent to capture her before failed, of course. Did you think they were after you? You were bait, dear."

Asuka's jaw worked. "What are you doing to do?"

Summers nodded, and they flopped Mari, roughly, onto the platform. Summers hurried to strap her down with thick leather cuffs on her ankles and thighs, and fixed a breathing mask over her face. Mari's head lolled to the side, and she lay still. Asuka looked at her tattered uniform, and realized she'd been beaten and shot. She ground her teeth, and if it weren't for the damned collar she would have burned them all.

"This is the part where you say, 'let her go and I'll do whatever you want,'" said Summers, busying herself with needles attached to long tubes, running back to the tank of molten metal.

"Not a chance in hell," said Asuka. "Release us now and I may show you mercy and simply burn you to ash instead of turning you over to my father."

"Your father?" Summers laughed, stepping back from the tank. "Why would he think anything is amiss?"

"When I fail to report in-"

Summers turned to her, and… changed. In between steps she lost six inches of height, and red-gold flowed through her hair. She had to hold up her disgusting outfit to keep it from sliding off of her slight chest as Asuka stared into a mirror image of her own face and heard her own voice.

"Why would you fail to report in?"

Asuka's jaw worked as Summers closed her eyes and… expanded, returning to her usual form, filling the outfit out again. She gave the cups of her bustier a little tug to set them in place.

"You're built like a boy," she muttered.

"Go to hell," said Asuka.

Summers laughed at her and went to work snipping away Mari's uniform with a pair of shears, humming to herself.

"What are you doing?"

"Mutants with a healing factor like your little pet have _unique _properties," said Summers, sliding one of the needles into Mari's arm. "One of those is the ability to survive the process of adamantium grafting. The metal is toxic of course, but even barring that, no one could survive having molten metal injected into their bones. The searing heat and all that."

Asuka's breath quickened.

"Don't worry, I've had practice. You see, the metal has to be kept very hot. Once it cools, it's indestructible."

She moved around Mari, sticking the needles in her all over, even on her head. When she was done, Mari was a forest of syringes connected to tubes, covered only by a bandage wrapping around her chest and hips. She groaned and started to move, and Summers touched her head, smiling softly to herself, and Mari stilled.

"Don't do this," said Asuka.

"I'm going to," said Summers, her voice on the edge of laughing. "You're going to watch. It'll be marvelous."

Summers yanked a lever and Mari slid down into the tank, her body lifting slightly from the steel bed as she became buoyant in the fluid. Summers checked some dials on the adamantium tank, threw a switch, and Mari's body went rigid as the molten metal began flowing into her. She thrashed, tugging at her bonds, her eyes suddenly flying open, full of confusion and fear. She looked at Asuka and locked wide eyes on her gaze, and bubbles poured out from around her breathing mask. She was screaming.

"Stop it," Asuka pleaded, "You're killing her!"

"No, I'm afraid not," said Summers. "Once the process begins, it can't stop. If she dies, oh well. I have a list of potential replacements. Now, don't distract me. A mistake could leave her locked in twisted agony until her healing factor burns out in a few hundred years."

Asuka chewed her lip, staring into Mari's eyes as they started to glaze over and roll back in her head. Her muscular frame jerked and her claws slid from her fingertips, and Asuka gasped- they were _metal, _slightly longer than they once had been. Mari sank to the bottom of the tank.

"There's a period of adjustment," said Summers, mostly to herself. "It will take a few minutes for her musculature to catch up to the weight of her skeleton."

Mari looked around and her arms and legs tightened, muscles flexing hard under her skin. She looked at Asuka and back at Summers, who dialed back the flow of metal and started yanking out the tubes, each needle making Mari twitch and thrash as it slid out of her skin. She threw all of the needles into another box and flipped a switch, purging the tubes with air.

"Can't let those cool," she said to herself.

Mari looked up, and Asuka saw her face twist under the mask. She pivoted her body and put her elbow against the floor of the tank and her arm bunched with all her might as she pulled at the leather cuff. It snapped free, the chain opening up, and Summers watched her as she slashed away her other bonds, cutting into herself and turning the water pink with blood from wounds that healed as soon as they appeared. She crouched and leapt out of the tank, claws bared, tearing the mask off.

Summers touched her forehead with her finger, and Mari stopped as if she'd slammed into a brick wall, and slumped back against the tank, breathing shallowly. Asuka called to her.

"Mari! Mari, get up! Get this collar off of me!"

"Stand up," said Summers.

Mari rose slowly to her feet, and her fingers relaxed, claws sliding back under natural nails. She stood stiffly, as if she were frozen in place, her eyes unfocused.

"Yes, Mother," she said, her voice flat.

"Mari!" Asuka screamed, thrashing against her shackles. "Mari!"

"Well," said Summers. "Answer her."

Mari slowly turned to her. "Do I know you?"

* * *

Ritsuko use the still-open launch tube to rocket out of the Geofront and into the open air, feeling the vibrations in the suit shaking through her bones. As soon as she hit open sky her HUD started picking out the Russian choppers. It wasn't a huge force, not an invasion per se, but there had to be a fairly large number of them. She leaned into a sharp turn, letting the computer pick as many out as she could. Her onboard radar wasn't picking up anything but the choppers and the city grid wasn't either. Some scientific corner of her brain was taking notes for later- after she blasted Summers into Swiss cheese she needed to more fully integrate the city systems into her suit, and-

She heard a beep in her ear, warning her of a target lock, and turned in the air. A helicopter gunship was spinning after her, banking sharply, and executed a gut-twisting maneuver to come to a hover and fire a missile at her. In a panic, she kicked down hard on her boot jets and rocketed straight up, the missile twisting to trail after her, taking a too-wide ark. She felt her teeth clacking together as she pushed it, hard.

She leaned into the turn, used her hand repulsors to make it as hard as she dared, and headed straight for the chopper. It opened up on her with its nose gun, and she dodged and weaved as it swept around, the tracers tracking towards her. Shells clanged off her shoulder, but she headed straight for it until it turned and lazily tried to get out of the way, but she ducked under, skimming so close to the chopper's belly she could have touched it, and rolled over in time to see the pursuing missile slam into it.

"Ha!" she shouted, "Take that!"

She was being tracked on radar, so she ducked down in to what pilots called nap of the earth, but being man-sized, the suit could easily fly between buildings and she was quickly out of sight. She couldn't take them all at once; at least, she couldn't risk raining burning debris on the city if she tried.

"MAGI, patch me through to the news feeds."

She kept a small window in the corner of her eye while she focused her attention on heading for the school. They were going after the kids, and if they were working on Summers' orders, whatever they had planned couldn't be good. A warning beeped in her ear again, more missile locks. They'd sent three of them after her this time, swooping in low over the rooftops, and they strafed at her with their nose guns. Seeing the tracers slam into the pavement under her, she swept up, banking hard. She didn't want someone to get caught in the crossfire.

She looked around, feeling her guts pressing against her spine from the force of the turn. There was smoke rising from places around the city, and she could pick out sounds of gunfire. She headed up, looking around. She saw fighting in the residential district, and then there was the school. She was drawing more attention, and there was a fleet of the damned things coming after her.

"Okay," she snapped, "You want to play? Let's play."

She veered off, outpacing them easily but slow enough that they could follow her, feebly trying to shoot her down as she ducked down between buildings, the world spinning and tilting around her drunkenly, only to pop back up and lead them on again. She punched it when she got to the outskirts of the city, then turned around and opened up with her repulsors.

The first chopper took one hit to the side to go down, spinning out as its tail rotor cut out. She was too small, and too fast, for them to get a bead on her as she rocketed between them, wishing she'd taken the time to build more weapons into the suit. She needed better air-to-air capability, and some kind of chaff or flares would come in handy if another missile locked on her. The helicopter spun into the ground and she felt a momentary wince of sympathy for the pilots, and then they were shooting at her again.

* * *

Maya clutched her head and sobbed, holding Ritsuko's gun in her lap. She had half a mind to shove it in her mouth and pull the trigger. She kept looking at herself in the mirror, at her bizarre visage, a stranger's face with yellow eyes and green skin. Her fingers were tipped with claws and she had scales on her arms and back, and her ears came to slight points under the fringe of her now deep green hair. She tossed the gun on the table and stood up.

Moving felt weird, alien, like she was wearing someone else's body. Her legs were too long and when she stood up she felt too tall, like standing on stilts. The others looked at her in a mixture of pity and fear, and she saw herself in the mirror. She was… muscled, corded but not bulging muscles wrapped around her legs and arms and thick shoulders, and her uniform had torn open to reveal a hard band of sculpted muscles, a pale green color like her face, the skin there softer, more… human. Her chest strained at her uniform jacket and she felt her bra straps digging into her shoulders, and laughed stupidly to herself.

"Maya?" Aoba said dumbly. "You okay?"

"Do I look okay?" she snapped, her voice strained. She was trying hard not to cry and failing, and felt the tears sliding down her cheeks.

There was a heavy thumping sound from somewhere off in the distance, and he rushed to the monitors. "We've got company."

Maya stepped out into the lab, stumbling clumsily. Something pushed a lamp off the desk behind her and she looked over her shoulder, and saw a strange muscular appendage swinging behind her and screamed.

"I have a tail!" she wailed, clutching herself.

"Maya!" Aoba shouted, grabbing her by the collar, "Get it together!"

"Get it together?" she screamed at him, "Get it together? Look at me!"

"Quiet!" he pleaded. "They'll hear us!"

"Do I fucking look like I care?" she cried, and brought her fist down on the table next to her. It splintered and folded out, the sides sliding along the floor as it collapsed. She ignored it, pushing into him.

"Why should I care? I waste my whole stupid life in someone else's shadow, and she doesn't even notice when I look at her!" Maya shrieked, leaning over him. "I thought I had it bad before," she snapped, and then imitated her mother's voice. "Oh Maya, you're just a late bloomer. The boob fairy comes sooner or later. Look at me!"

"W-what?" Aoba said, backing away from her.

"I just wanted her to see me the way I see her!" Maya wailed. She grabbed a nearby desk, whipped it over her head, and smashed it on the floor. It flew apart, and she kept screaming, clenching her fists, feeling the claws dig into her palms. She let out an exasperated growl and stalked through the labs through the door. There was another bang, and then more grinding, and the door started to open.

"Maya!" Aoba shouted, racking the slide on his gun. "Get down!"

"Fuck that!" Maya bellowed as the door opened.

"On floor, now!" the soldiers shouted, barely intelligible through their thick accents.

"Mutant!" one of them bellowed, "Shoot it!"

"_What did you call me?"_ Maya screamed.

They shot her. She heard the guns go off, and she felt something hit her chest that made her rock back a step and shake her head. They shot her. She felt a quivering fury roll through her body, like liquid fire filled her veins, and charged forward, sweeping through the gunfire like it was a spring rain. She grabbed a gun and felt it twist and bend in her hands, picked up the little man shooting her, and flung him into the wall. He hit with a crunch, folded, and slid to the floor. Maya stared. Did she kill him?

"I didn't mean it!" she wailed, tears welling in her eyes.

They were still shooting her. "Stop it!" she screamed, "_Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" _

She felt her claws slicing through steel and plastic, and then through flesh. She kicked one of them back through the door into the wall, ripped the gun out of the other's hand and pulled it apart, little metal bits clattering everywhere, and drove her fist into the chest of the third. She felt like she had a fever, like she was burning up, and ripped off the tattered remnants of her uniform jacket, her undershirt clinging to her skin. She was so _green_.

There were more voices in the hallway outside. She charged through the door, grinding her teeth, and looked around. The morons kept shooting at her and the bullets kept painfully slapping into her and bouncing off into the walls. Every hit made her even more angry, the rage building and building until she screamed and charged at them, crashing into the knot of soldiers like a bowling ball. After a moment she realized they were running, the ones that weren't lying on the floor anyway, and she heard shouting behind her.

They pointed a freaking rocket at her. She stood up, eyes wide, just in time to catch a fist-sized rocket in her chest. It pushed her back and then exploded, heat and force washing over her, and she slammed into the wall, dazed. She brushed at her hair and little pieces of sharp metal fell out. There was shrapnel in her hair, and now her pants were in tatters, too.

"I don't get a uniform allowance!" she shrieked, charging.

She slapped the next rocket out of the soldier's hands as he tried to reload, grabbed the launch tube, and swung it around like a club, cracking him over the head with it. The others ran as she rammed it down against her leg and bent it in half, then threw it at the wall. For good measure, she punched the wall, jamming her fist against it, and a spider-web of cracks shot out from the impact. She stomped her feet petulantly and half shrieked, half roared, throwing her arms out and arching her back. No matter what she did, she just felt angrier.

"Maya!" Aoba called.

She ignored him, racing down the hallway. They were on the run, now. They tried to close one of the security doors behind them, but she caught and forced it open, grinning with satisfaction as she felt the motors in the wall grinding apart as they feebly tried to resist her. She pushed the heavy steel slabs off their tracks and stalked forward, snapping her teeth, and launched herself forward through the gunfire.

Skidding to a stop, she watched an eight foot tall slab of muscle step out into the hallway, dressed in some kind of power armor, like the one Ritsuko had before she left. Maya stared for a second, and then the giant pumped his hand at her and a flash of light hit her in the chest like a sledgehammer and threw her back through the hallway. He stomped over to her and grabbed her by the throat, dragging her to her feet.

"Stupid lizard girl," the giant rasped, "Victor smash!"

"Smash?" Maya screamed, "I'll show you _smash _you son of a bitch!"

She slammed her arm into his and knocked it away from her throat, grabbed him by the waist and lifted him bodily from the floor, ramming his head into the ceiling. He stumbled, his armor grinding, and with a wild cry of fury she crawled over him, hooking her claws under the plating and yanking it away. The more he batted at her with his armored fists the angrier and angrier she felt, until she thought she was going to explode. Surges of rage ripped through her, making her scalp tingle, making her suck in savoring breaths through her sharp teeth. She ripped him right out of his doofy armored suit and pounded him into the wall as he batted at her with ham-sized fists, screaming in Russian.

Finally, she whipped him around and hurled him bodily into the soldiers at the end of the hall. He rolled in an unconscious heap and they struggled to get free of his bulk and break into a run as Maya screamed after them. She heard Aoba calling her again and pounded her fists against the wall.

"Maya!" he shouted. "Maya!"

She clutched her head as a sudden wave or revulsion tore through her like icy fire. She hurt those people! Did she kill someone? She collapsed to her feet in a wracking sob and hugged herself, crying like a little girl as Aoba skidded to a stop next to her, the other techs bunched up behind him. He put his hand on her shoulder and nudged her, but she couldn't stop sobbing, and broke into a wail. He pulled his coat off and draped it around her and she clutched it like a blanket, sniffing.

"You're okay," he said, "You're okay."

She tried to say something about hurting people or being sorry she was mean to him, but only sobs came out.

"Don't take this the wrong way," he panted, "But that was kind of hot."

* * *

Hikari woke up to a pair of boots, strange leather ones with upturned, pointed toes. She started to push herself up when a powerful hand grabbed her by the back of her neck and tugged her onto her feet. She found herself staring into a pair of crazed yellow lenses set in a rubber monster mask and lashed out, but it felt like punching a wall. The Goblin lifted her easily, spun, and threw her into the wall dividing the kitchen from the living room. She went right through it, the drywall and studs pushing out around her, and she landed in a heap of debris, spitting out dust. The Goblin stalked over to her, laughing softly.

Screaming, she got to her feet and launched herself at him, reaching for his throat. He batted her arms aside and drove his fist up under her ribs, knocking the air out of her, and flipped her into the far wall. She hit hard, cratering the drywall, and landed on all fours on the carpet. Slowly, she got up.

"What did you do with Shinji?" she gasped, clutching her side.

"Don't you _ever_ say his name," the Goblin rasped, shoving the remains of her living room couch out of the way with his foot.

Hikari looked around. "Kodama?"

The Goblin laughed at her. "They're not here, none of them are here. Your sister tried to fight me. It was a mistake."

Hikari drew in a sharp breath, and clenched her teeth so hard she thought they would crack, and then launched herself at him with an ear piercing shriek. She jumped up, slapped both hands against the ceiling, and rammed her feet into his chest. He stumbled backwards into the kitchen, bring down what remained of the wall, and she heard a groan from the walls around her. She flipped her feet up onto the ceiling, dropped and twisted around, and launched a twin stream of webbing at his feet, but he was already moving.

He was big, well over six feet, and bulky even if he was fast, and she could use that. She moved out of the way when he came at her, relying on the sensation in the back of her head to guide her, dancing along the ceiling to avoid his blows and half-hearted attempts to grapple. She dropped down by her hands, grabbed the kitchen table with her feet, and flung it at him He crashed through it, splinters flying everywhere.

"Where are they?" she screamed, landing in the kitchen.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

She grabbed the refrigerator, slapping her hands flat against it, and hurled it at him. It battered against him, folding from the impact, and as he turned it aside to shove it out of the way she cartwheeled at him and rained blows on his head, locking arms with him as he blocked her blows and tangled with her. She tried to get away, but he was too strong and pulled her around by the arms and slammed her into the wall, let her sag down, then picked her up and drove her into it again.

Twisting out of his grasp, she ducked low, aiming a blow for his stomach, but he grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, drawing a scream from her as he flung her into the wall and then drove his fist hard into her stomach. She doubled over and landed on the floor, clutching her middle with one arm and breathing hard.

"It's no use," the Goblin gloated, circling her. "I'm stronger than you are, faster, smarter."

"What do you want from me?" Hikari shouted, cringing at the plea in her voice. "I don't-"

He brought his foot up into her bruised ribs, launching her back at the wall. She coughed and sputtered, scrabbling up onto her feet.

"Did you think you could play hero?" the Goblin rasped, walking around her. "Did you think there would be no consequences? Did you not realize who you were dealing with?"

"What did you do with my sisters?" Hikari said lamely, leaning on the wall.

"You'll see," said the Goblin. "You'll do exactly as I say, or-"

With a savage cry she jumped pistoned herself against the wall in a hard crouch, and pushed as hard as she could with her legs. The wall cratered behind her and she tackled him across the living room and right through the far wall, feeling the bricks scraping her back as she crashed through it with him. They slammed into the building next door together and she let go of him, tossing out a webline.

A rocket-glider-thing skimmed between the buildings and the Goblin landed on it, hard. Hikari spun around and leapt at him, but he caught her in the stomach with his fist and turned her, forcing her past him as he rocketed out of the alley. She swung out over the street, only to twist out of the way of a whirling blade. The Goblin pumped his fist at her, firing a spread of razor sharp, twisting little blades. She turned between them, feeling them skim past her body. One of them slid over her leg, opening it up and soaking the thigh of her pajama pants with blood.

The other went right through her webline. She threw out another one and he cut that too, rocketing over her and leaning over almost ninety degrees in the turn. She tried again he cut that one, too. She managed a small swing before the line snapped and she was falling through space. She aimed at the corner of the building over her head and missed, and saw a parked car rushing up to meet her.

Shit hit hard, sinking into the roof, and the impact forced a hard grunt out of her and sent shooters of pain up her shoulder. Her thigh was burning, and her shoulder sent laces of agony into her body as she moved, and he side burned as she struggled for breath. The Goblin stood over her on his glider.

"I could kill you now," he said, aiming his blade-launcher at her head. She felt the pressure from it in the back of her neck.

He didn't. Instead, he swung his hand around. "Do you see that building?"

She nodded, feebly. It was the tallest one in the emerging skyline, towering well above the others, some kind of administrative building for Nerv.

"You have one hour. I want you there in your silly little costume. I want you to understand the consequences of your actions, little girl. Try to contact anyone, and both of your sisters die. Come alone, and I might let you keep one of them."

It hurt too much to snap at him. He kicked down on his glider and took off, cackling laughter ringing through the air.

Hikari lay in the crumpled ruins of the car. Images of that lunatic manhandling Kodama flooded her head, followed quickly by Nozomi screaming as a nightmare monster dragged her out of her bedroom. She rolled as much as she could, gasping at the pain from her arm, and looked down at her thigh. The cut was bad, not gushing blood but still bleeding badly. She grabbed her pants with her hand and tore the fabric away to take a better look at it. It was a long, shallow cut, bleeding badly, and would need stitches.

She didn't have time for that. She took a deep breath and forced her wounded arm to move, to aim her wrist at the cut on her leg, and squeezed it together with her good hand. Fighting to keep her breathing even, she fired webbing at her leg, squeezing the flesh together with her fingers, sealing it up gradually, from bottom to top.

When it was done, she shifted off the car, leaning on her side. When she put her weight on her leg she grunted and bit back a scream, forcing her eyes open. She had to do this. She looked at the skyline, at the city, and limped towards the apartment building. She wanted to reach towards the wall to climb up, but her arm hurt too badly, and through the haze of pain she realized it was dislocated.

She put her free arm around herself, grabbed her bad arm under the shoulder, and clenched her teeth. When she put it back into joint it was like being stabbed and it pushed all the breath out of her lungs, but she could move the arm again. Still she kept it tight against her stomach and climbed up the wall with one hand and foot, too slowly. She stumbled through the ruins of her home and tears stung her eyes.

Her backpack was in her bedroom. She yanked the zipper apart and pulled out her sweatshirt.

"With great power," she said, "comes great responsibility."

She started to dress, slipping out of her ruined pajamas. The pain overwhelmed her and she said, "With great power, comes great responsibility." She kept on saying it as she winced through putting on her costume.

* * *

As she emerged from the shelter, she immediately heard the evacuation alarm sound again. The other people streaming out, families and children she didn't know all that well, stopped in their tracks and listened. She heard murmurs about another attack, but there were helicopters flying overhead, a whole fleet of them and the usual recorded announcement that played through the shelter speakers was silent. She hugged her arms and looked around, longing to go home, take a shower, and change out of the tracksuit she'd thrown on before grabbing her go-bag and heading for the shelter.

"Misato?"

She turned. "Erik? What are you doing here?"

"We need to leave," he said, taking her by the arm.

"What? Why?"

He stopped, keeping his voice low. "Those helicopters aren't Nerv, they're Russian. If you stay in the shelter, they may find you."

"Find me? Why would they be looking for me?"

"I can't explain right now. It's complicated. I need you to trust me."

She blinked a few times. "Erik, you're scaring me."

Over his shoulder, she saw a cluster of men in fatigues approaching, and they weren't in any Nerv uniform she'd ever seen, and they were armed. He pulled her away from the shelter entrance and grimaced as they approached.

"Identify yourselves," one of them said in a thick accent.

Erik waved his hands. "These are not the droids you're looking for. Move along."

The soldiers stared at them for a moment, then turned on their heels and walked away. Erik looked shaken as he led her away from the shelter by the arm, a haunted look in his eyes.

"What did you do?" Misato demanded.

"I used the Jedi mind trick."

"The what?"

"It's from a movie," he sighed. "We'll watch it sometime. Call it a date."

Misato shook out of his grasp. "Erik, what's going on? How did you do that? Are you a mutant or something?"

"Or something," said Erik.

There was a low boom, and a column of smoke rose up a few blocks distant. Misato looked at it for a moment, and then it clicked in her head.

"The school!"

She started towards it, breaking into a jog.

"What are you planning to do?" said Erik.

"The students in the dormitories. We can't just leave them."

It wasn't far from her shelter to the school grounds. She knew a few short cuts, since she took the same path to work in the morning. Erik moved alongside her, looking around nervously. He caught her arm again when the building came in sight.

"I had hoped it wouldn't be so soon," he said, his voice thick.

"What would be so soon? What aren't you telling me?"

"Who I really am," he said, turning her to face him. "I wasn't always Erik Lawson. A long time ago, I had a choice to go into battle with my people and face certain death or turn and run. I ran away, and I created this identity for myself to hide."

"Erik," she said.

"Listen to me. The man… person I was, wasn't good. I did terrible things. I was a monster."

"I don't believe that," she said.

"I am still that person, underneath," he said, touching his chest. "He's always looking over my shoulder, whispering in my ear. There is a darkness inside me, Misato, and the more I tap into it the less I am myself."

"What are you _saying?"_

"This," he said, and kissed her.

Her eyes widened. Damn, he was good. She melted into him, forgetting everything that was happening for just a moment, and went with it. When it finally broke she was out of breath and his eyes were searching, taking in her reaction as if he might never see her again.

"The children are more important," he said, finally. "_You_ are more important. Stay behind me."

He stepped out into the street and began walking towards the Academy. Misato hovered behind him, wondering what he would do. She had military training, if she could get a gun… walking down the middle of the street like this was a mistake. There were landed helicopters in front of the school and she could see more poking up over the buildings, having landed on the quad. A group of the soldiers was standing in front of the entrance to the dormitories. When they saw Erik they turned and pointed their weapons at him.

"Gentlemen. Do svidaniya."

One, probably the leader, slightly lowered his gun. "That means goodbye."

Erik grinned.

"I know."

They tensed. The leader barked, "Freeze!"

"No," Erik sighed.

"This is your last chance, civilian."

"No," he said, "It is yours."


	12. Sadistic Choice

_Previously on__…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_Everything is going to hell. _

_Shinji and Asuka were taken prisoner by the insane, sadistic Doctor Natalie Summers__… better known as _Mister Sinister_. Using her telepathic powers, Summers tormented and tortured Shinji and later implanted Adamantium into Mari Makinami's body- and worse, apparently erased all her memories!_

_As Ritsuko suited up as Iron Man to take the fight to the enemy, Hikari awoke in chaos- her home destroyed, her family and her boyfriend taken away from her. Confronted by the cruel Green Goblin, she was badly beaten and left to come crawling to him in hopes of saving her sisters. _

_At Nerv, Maya, heavily mutated by gamma radiation, went on a rampage, tearing through a horde of Sinister's minions, by turns exulted and terrified by her transformation. _

_Meanwhile, Misato found herself following Erik Lawson towards the Academy, as always hinting at a powerful secret__…_

* * *

"**SADISTIC**** CHOICE"**

* * *

Hikari limped across the roof, building a steady rhythm of short hops that carried her a little further each time, until she made the leap across the gap between buildings and came down hard on her good leg and limped forward a little faster, holding her weak arm to her side, clenching her teeth at the shooters of pain from her shoulder every time her feet hit the ground. Her leg didn't feel as bad now, or else was going numb. She thought it had stopped bleeding, or soon would, but it hurt every time she put her foot down.

She was going too slowly. She clenched her teeth and broke into a run, her stomach twisting dangerously and threatening to make her double over every time her leg hit the ground. She wasn't far from where she could swing. She flexed her arm as she ran, hoping that it wasn't hurt too badly from the fall. When she reached the next gap she took a flying leap, and as she rose up the buildings in front of her dipped down and she saw her destination in sight, gleaming in the morning sun. She was sweating and her goggles itched on her face.

When she hit the last gap she could jump she hurled herself up with all her might and threw a webline with her strong arm and swung as far as she could, and bit down hard on her teeth and shot one from her bad arm. All through the swing was agony, white hot pain that filled her vision with stars and made her stomach lurch. She focused on the tall building, fighting to stay from swing to swing.

She threw her hand out, watching the web arc through the air, and the tingling at the back of her head told her she missed before the line sailed out into empty air, coiling like a snake without striking, and she started to fall. She managed to fire another line and swing but she was too low now and swung back without getting high enough, the ground tilting lazily under her until she let go and hit the ground hard, barking out a grunt of pain as she landed on her side in the middle of the street.

A car pulled up behind her and she dully saw the doors open. A policeman and policewoman stepped out.

"Hey," Hikari said, dumbly. "I remember you."

The woman helped her stand up.

"God," she said, "What happened to you?"

"I got beat up," she said, dumbly.

The woman was gentle, and started moving her towards the car. "We're taking you to the hospital, sweetheart."

"No," Hikari pleaded, "That building. I have to get there. I'm running out of time."

"We'll call it in," the man said, gingerly touching her shoulder. "Come on."

"I have to go alone," Hikari said, ashamed at how stupid and sad she sounded. "He'll kill my sisters."

"Who? The person who did this to you?"

Hikari nodded.

"We're taking you to the hospital. You're dead on your feet," said the man.

"No. We're taking her to that building."

"Shit, we can't-"

"Get in the car," she snapped, snatching the keys from him. She turned to Hikari, leading her towards it. "You sit in the front, hon."

As she came to rest in the front seat of the car, she drifted. It smelled like old fast food, sweat and sour cheap soap. She wanted to pull her goggles off but she couldn't take them off, they would know who she was. The cop took them off anyway, gently tugging them over her head, and wiped Hikari's face down with a napkin. They closed the doors, turned on the lights, and started driving.

"There's Russians all over the city," said the police woman, her voice strangely soothing. "Nerv is on lockdown. Nobody knows what's going on."

"I don't either," said Hikari.

"Do you know this guy?" said the man. "Why did he do this to you?"

"I don't know," Hikari said, wincing at how much she sounded like she was wining. "He blew up my house and my boyfriend is gone."

"She might have a concussion," he said.

"I'm fine," Hikari protested. "I just fell off a roof a little."

"You should go to the hospital and let someone else handle this."

"I can't. It's my responsibility."

Her head lolled to the side. She wanted to sleep, very badly. She'd been awake all night and her leg was burning, and her arm hurt, but her fingers felt a little numb. She flexed them until the feeling came back, pins and needles. She forgot her gloves.

"We're almost there," the woman said.

She kept driving. There was no one on the road, so it was a short trip. Hikari breathed slowly and flexed her shoulder. It felt better now, stronger, but her leg still burned and she was sweating. She flexed, kicking her foot out slowly, wincing. The cut wasn't deep, but it stung badly and she'd bled a lot, and her pajama bottoms were crusted with blood. She pulled her goggles down when the building came in sight.

"I won't make it up the side," she said, softly.

"Take the elevator," said the male cop.

"We're going to call for backup," said the woman, picking up the microphone from the dashboard.

"I don't think anybody's coming," said the man.

"I'm trying anyway. Good luck, Spider-Girl."

Hikari pulled her goggles down over her eyes and stepped out of the car. She had less of a limp now but she stumbled up to the front doors of the building and leaned on them, stifling a sob when they turned out to be locked, but only until she let out a frustrated cry and yanked them open, popping the lock mechanisms free of the lintel and the sidewalk, and pushed inside where it was mercifully cool.

She headed for the elevator, and it opened when she pushed the button. She slumped against the inside wall and hit the topmost button and waited as the doors bounced shut and it lifted up. She took deep breaths, forcing herself to stand up, and flexed her leg again. After what felt like forever the elevator stopped on the top floor and she stepped out into what was a glorified attic- a vast space of bare concrete floor and exposed wires and struts above her, held up by bare metal beams. The top of the buildings' staircases stuck through it and up into the roof, and she picked the closest one, ramming her fist through the middle of the doors to punch the lock out, and headed up. She had to break down the door again and then stepped out into the morning air, wincing at the light even dimmed by her goggles.

At the far corner were her sisters. Nozomi was huddled in the fetal position, her legs drawn up to her tear-stained face, still dressed in her pink jammies. Kodama looked dazed, one eye swollen and dark and a bruise on her chin. When she saw Hikari she started to stand up.

The Goblin wrenched his hand in her hair and forced her back down.

"That's enough out of you."

Hikari put her hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Please, do whatever you want with me. Just let them go."

The Goblin's twisted, rubber face spread into a grin. "Very poor choice of words."

He jerked Kodama towards the roof and she screamed, kicking her foot into empty air. Her slipper fell off her foot and tumbled off into space, like a falling leaf.

Hikari pulled her goggles off. "Why are you doing this? We didn't do anything to you."

"You stole my son!"

Hikari froze.

"Oh my God. It's not possible."

"You ruined everything. He was perfect before you corrupted him. You stole him from me."

"That's not true," said Hikari.

He edged closer to the ledge, dragging Kodama with him, pulling Nozomi by the arm. She looked at Hikari pleadingly.

"I'll stay. Let them g… leave. I'm begging you."

"No, Spider-Girl. You have to learn your lesson. This is the only way."

He dragged both sisters to their feet and edged towards the corner of the roof.

"You'll have to choose which one to save. You'll have to learn what it's like to tear your own heart out."

"You don't have to do this," Hikari pleaded. "This isn't going to put things back the way they were."

His voice was strangely calm, and behind the golden lenses of his fright mask, she could see his eyes.

"It doesn't matter. I can't stop."

He dragged Kodama and Nozomi to the edge, and their feet slid along the slippery concrete, inches from empty air. Nozomi shrieked in terror and Kodama vainly, clawing at his gloved hand.

"Hikari," Kodama said, going still, almost calm. "I knew."

"What?"

"I love you. Get Nozomi."

"Sis!" Hikari cried, running towards them.

The Goblin let them go.

The world slowed. Kodama almost steadied herself for a moment, her loose dark hair flowing through space, like liquid, and then she started to fall, spinning her arms, a look of absolute terror on her face. Nozomi stumbled, the little footies of her pajamas slipping out from under her. Biting back a sob, Hikari ran straight for her, the Goblin's slow, liquid laughter thundering in her ears. She could do it. She could make it, if she timed it right. She saw Nozomi reaching for her as she leaped off the roof, putting both hands out in front of her body, trying to make herself as streamlined as possible. The world below was a tilting forest of boxy buildings, distant and running down on her like a train.

She got a hand on Nozomi, and it clung to the fabric of her pajamas, just like a wall. Nozomi clung to her, squeezing her neck tight, and Hikari fired a webline, hitting the corner of the roof, and swung.

Kodama fell face up, flailing her arms and legs, screaming. Hikari reached for her.

Her fingers slipped over Kodama's wrist, almost touching but not quite, and then she was gone.

Hikari swung past her, hit the glass of the skyscraper's side, and readied herself to drop down and try again. She curled her fingers inward, thinking about using her webs, remembering what happened the last time someone tried that. Something flashed in the corner of her eye. A missile. It was a lie after all. They were going die.

It wasn't a missile. It was a person, flying on a glowing column of fire, and it was headed right for Kodama. Hikari's jaw dropped as she made out a hulking iron giant in black and gold, slowing its descent in time with her sister. It put its arms around Kodama and rolled, catching her, and raced back up, coming to a hover in front of her.

"Hop on, kid!"

Hikari wasted no time leaping onto the giant's back, hanging on by one arm as she hugged Nozomi tight. Dully, her mind found a name.

Iron Man.

The Iron Man descended in bursts that made her stomach fly up into her throat, and little by little came down to earth. When his heavy boots cut out and he dropped to the pavement in front of the astonished police, Kodama touched her feet to the ground and nearly collapsed before Hikari caught her, sobbing explosively. The three sisters clutched one another as Iron Man stepped back.

"Uh," the male cop said. "You're under arrested. Vigilante law."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I have to say it."

Hikari looked up. The Goblin, barely a speck he was so high up, leapt of the roof and mounted his glider, cackling as he rocketed off on a column of smoke.

Kodama hugged her tightly. Nozomi clung to her leg.

"I'm going after him," said Iron Man.

"I'm going with you,"

"You're going to the hospital," the cop insisted. "I'll handcuff you if I have to."

Kodama rounded on him. "You will do no such thing."

He flinched. "Yes, ma'am."

"We've got them," the policewoman said, picking up Nozomi. "We'll take them to the hospital."

Kodama grabbed her arm. "Please don't tell anybody who she is."

"Who who is?" said the policewoman.

"Kid, it's now or never," said Iron Man. "I'm losing him."

Hikari climbed on his back, clinging to the armor, and tapped the top of his helmet. "Let's go, shellhead."

"Be careful," Kodama said, lamely, as the policewoman dragged her away.

Hikari started to say something but the sudden acceleration as Iron Man lifted off in a roar yanked at her, and she had to focus on clinging to the armor. As the suit leveled out, he looked back at her with glowing eyes.

"Aren't we supposed to have a misunderstanding and beat each other up?"

"We'll do it later," said Hikari. "Punch it!"

She wished she'd kept her goggles on as the armored giant rocketed skyward and dipped back down towards the Goblin, skimming through the skyline.

"If I shoot him down, he's dead."

"Get close, and I'll jump him!" Hikari shouted, pitching forward on her hands and feet.

As they neared, the Goblin reached into his satchel and tossed something back, a pumpkin. Iron Man swatted it out of the air with a blast of light from his glove, and then another. He edged closer, and Hikari poised herself to leap, and then pushed with her entire body, like a spring. She sailed through the air, arms spread, and slammed into the Goblin, locking him in a choke hold.

The glider yawed sharply to the side, threatening to drag her off. He clawed at her arms, his powerful fingers digging painfully into her flesh, but she held on. The glider began to turn and he aimed his gauntlet at her and fired wildly, spinning blade sailing past her head. She jerked, swinging her legs, and the glider tilted down, towards the street. She locked her legs around him, threw her hand out, and fired a web. When it hit, it yanked tight in her hand and pulled hard, making her grunt with effort as she held it. The glider kicked out to the side and slipped out from under them, and the Goblin's feet slid out of the locks and it kept on, righting itself.

She let go of the web, falling with him in a tangle of limbs, screaming in rage as they crashed together straight through a brick wall and rolled through what looked like it was a florist's shop. She ducked a punch, pummeled her fists into his gut and rolled under him as he clawed at her, pistoned against the wall and planted both feet in his back. He shot back out through the opening in the wall and tumbled through the air, and she followed, screaming in rage. He landed badly and went for his blade launch, aiming his glove at her. She tumbled as she landed, came up, and fired twin streams of webbing at his glove just as he fired.

The launcher burst, blades flying in every direction. Heeding the feeling in her neck she twisted through the air, the ghost of them passing over as she twisted between them and came down hard on her bad leg. The Goblin stumbled back, bleeding from a dozen cuts. Hikari surged at him, twisted under a clumsy kick and slid under him along the ground.

She put both fists straight up, between his legs.

The Goblin howled and doubled over. Hikari jumped and ran up his back and brought her fist down on the back of his neck.

He rolled, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her into the ground. Her vision fuzzed from the impact, and he picked her up, spun her around, and tossed her into a wall.

"You don't learn, do you?" he hissed, his voice ragged. "I'll-"

There was a high pitched whine and a burst of light slammed into him, and he skidded along the pavement. Iron Man came down with a crash, cratering the pavement as he landed on his fist and one knee. He stood up and bore down on the Goblin with his grimacing helmet, striding with purpose.

"You killed my mother."

"I kill lots of people," the Goblin rasped. "She probably deserved it."

Iron Man's helmet lifted up, spreading and unfolding over his back, almost like a hood.

Iron Man was…

"A girl?" said Hikari.

"I have a doctorate," she snapped. "I'm a _woman."_

She grabbed the Goblin and dragged him up by the collar of his tunic, and wrenched off his mask, hurling it to the ground. Then, she dropped him.

"_Gendo?" _she breathed.

She shook her head, and her pretty face twisted in fury. She aimed her gauntlet at Gendo's face, and it whined as her weapon charged up.

"Do it," he croaked.

"What?"

"For God's sake, it's the only way to stop me. Do it."

"With pleasure," she snapped.

"No!" Hikari shouted, leaping.

She shoved the gauntlet aside and the blast tore a furrow in the pavement.

"What are you _doing?" _Iron… Woman snapped, pushing her back.

"You can't just kill him!"

"He killed my mother."

"Don't listen to her," Gendo hissed, squeezing her armored arm. "I tried. She wouldn't let me."

"What do you mean?"

"I tried drowning myself in the bathtub. She pulled me out. I tried to cut my throat. She made me shave instead. She's in my head."

"What? Who?"

"Natalie," he whispered. "She has such sights to show you."

The Iron Woman dropped him, her eyes wide. "Jesus Christ, this was a setup. She _wants _me to kill him."

The Goblin… Gendo crawled away from her, laughing stupidly, almost drunkenly.

"We can't just leave him. Can you paralyze him with your bite?"

"What?" said Hikari.

She shrugged, her armor whirring. "You know, spider."

"Ugh. No."

Hikari pounced on him, dragging him back. She webbed his legs, layering strand over strand, then pulled his arms behind his back and did the same. She yanked off his satchel, snapping the leather strap, and pulled off his belt of pouches, tossing it aside.

"Stay with him."

"Like hell," said Hikari.

"Kid, you're pretty badly hurt. You need medical attention."

"I'm not done yet," said Hikari, flexing her arm. "I think I'm getting better. I'm _hungry."_

"Healing factor," the woman said, absently. "I'm Ritsuko."

"Shinji told me about you," Hikari said, then immediately regretted it.

"Wait, hold on. _You_'re the girlfriend?"

Hikari nodded.

Ritsuko smirked quietly to herself. "Whatever. We'll have to tie him up and leave him here. Get on my back."

Hikari nodded and climbed up onto her perch. She saw a column of smoke rising off in the distance.

"Wait," she said, her stomach lurching. "Isn't that the Academy?"

* * *

The sun was coming up.

Sakura ran.

Suddenly, everything she had ever known was alien, strange and weighty. The feeling of the pavement under her feet, juddering up through her legs with every step, nearly made her trip. Air flowed between her lips when she breathed and the smell of burning oil and the embers floating on the air stung her throat and she looked over her shoulder and realized her home was burning. There was gas everywhere and her house was on fire and teetering dangerously, the roof sagging in the middle where it had ceased to be intersecting planes of shingles and trusses and was now splintered wood, hanging drunkenly against itself. For all her power, there was nothing she could do.

The sound of gunfire was everywhere, and the helicopters were roaring over her head, shining lights down onto the city. She ducked between two houses to avoid the light, huddling against the wall, amazed at how strange and weighty the siding felt under her skin. She had to focus. She had to make sure Toji and Rei were alright. She had to find the others- none of them knew what Summers… no, what Sinister was planning, what her mad ambition would unleash.

As she jogged down the street she heard the sound of a heavy tracked vehicle not far away and glimpsed it, huge and belching smoke and heavy, appearing between houses the next block over. She stopped in her tracks. The air was heavy, thickening and heating, like diving into a pot of soup, and she felt currents of magic moving on the air, dark and powerful and not of men, and the stench of rotten eggs filled her nose.

It was over quickly. There was a flash, and something raced down the street, tantalizingly out of view, a roaring, flaming mass of light that overtook the big tracked vehicle and went on. She heard gunfire and screaming and against every instinct ran towards it and not away, hopping a fence, her newly healed leg giving her a twinge as she landed. She was running on the spell she used to heal herself, and when it ran out her bones would remain knitted and her muscles healed, but she would crash dangerously, for the costs had to be paid. She would need food and sleep. She wasn't here to fight, and if she jumped into the fray she would drain herself dangerously, risking her life and her soul itself. She could try risking an evocation, but Stephen wasn't sure she was ready for that yet, and she wasn't either. The world felt paper thin, like it was painted over the reality underneath it.

When she made it to the next block she saw a scene out of Hell. The stink of burning oil and rotten eggs filled the air, and smoke rose from what was left of the big vehicle, which had been cleaved in two, neatly bisected down the middle. The two halves sagged to either side, still glowing where something had not cut but pushed through them, melting like a hot knife through butter. A trail ran down the road where something, perhaps wheels, had melted the pavement, cutting a flattened, glassy-smooth channel as it passed.

Some of the vehicle's occupants were alive. Some of them weren't. She didn't look at the dead, shuddering. They weren't burned but dried, like they'd been heated in a kiln until their fat boiled off and they were left as charred almost-mummies with hollow eyes, and she didn't want to study them too closely. She saw one of the survivors crawling off, weeping and screaming.

"Я видел дьявола. Он жжет!"

She risked opening her senses, grasping at the world around her for the signs of the magic that had passed here. It came on her in a rush, slamming into her skull through the third sight like a boiling hot icepick, and she saw it. Something impossibly vast had passed her by, and cut through these men as if there was nothing to them. The worst was the dead. They were not just gone but empty, as hollow as if they never were, less than the stones of the Earth. Their souls had not departed their bodies, they had been destroyed.

"Sakura!"

She jarred herself and closed the magic off, only to find the Ancient One in his astral form beside her.

"Leave this place, at once."

She blinked a few times.

"What did this?"

"You're not ready," he said, stridently. "I would not see the thing that passed here fall upon you. It finds good hunting this night, and you do _not _want to find yourself its prey. Go. Now!"

She bolted, forcing herself to run, already feeling winded. She wasn't sure how much longer she would last before collapsing, but she had to find help, had to warn the others. If she'd been faster, she could have done something before Toji… no, she couldn't think that way.

It dawned on her where she was running. She saw the school, the Academy, the four story dorm building squatted around the quad and the main campus where classes were held, and felt a rush of recognition and relief, but something was wrong. There were men on the ground, and she smelled blood on the air and heard shooting… and snarling. Against all reason she pursued the sound, putting one foot in front of the other, running right up the steps to the dorms.

The doors had been smashed open. She ran through the halls, seeing the long scratches on the floor. Something heavy had smashed through here and not long ago. Reaching out with her senses, she felt the students, a wave of confusion and fear washing over her as she opened herself to their minds. Her mutation was primary psychic, though it increased her mystical potentialities significantly. The Ancient One said that with time, she might be a peer to Xavier even without the aid of the Art. The more she felt for the other students, the more she felt the essence of the thing that had passed through here. It was far different from the hellfire trail. It reminded her of a song, sung in an old tongue in a minor key, the lament of a dead people's passing sung by the last one to remember them.

Passing through the dorms, she ended up running across the quad. There were helicopters landed there and she shied away from them, ducking behind some bushes. They were setting up a command post, but she saw a knot of men rushing off, talking into radios as they headed for the main campus. She followed, realizing they were headed for the students. A minor but dangerous murmur of power made her not truly invisible but less likely to be noticed as she followed behind them.

There was only a thin wall between the Russians and her classmates. She began to ready a spell, focusing her mind, but her concentration broke as she felt _it_ moving, the presence that she'd trailed behind moments before, that had torn claw marks in the floor and torn the doors apart. The classroom doors banged open, and a monster out of a child's nightmare barged out.

If was to a wolf as a lion is to a housecat. Huge and stark and pure white, the lupine monstrosity pounded out of the classroom with glowing yellow eyes, wading into a hail of gunfire as if loping through a light spring rain. It seized one of the Russians with jaws that easily circled his waist and shoot its head like a dog tugging at a rag and hurled him into the others, filling the hallway with its bulk. When it opened its jaws the snarl that came out was more like a roar, the vibration like an earthquake, shaking dust down out of the rafters.

Dragging their fallen squadmate, the Russians retreated in a screaming rout, firing pointlessly at the beast as it loped down the hallway, but did not pursue, circling back towards the classroom. It walked in a circle, long hooked claws gouging marks on the floor, shook like a dog after a bath and suddenly there was no wolf standing in its place, but a man.

Mister Lawson ran his fingers through his hair and adjusted his tie.

"You can come out, little sorceress. Your Art is not unimpressive but there's no hiding from me. Not today."

Sakura dismissed the minor illusion that concealed her and edged closer to him.

As she approached, she could feel his power, and wondered how she'd never been aware of it before. It was like she'd lived her life in darkness, and suddenly beheld the sun. She saw two men standing in the same space- a nondescript teacher in a rumpled suit and tie, a few years out of fashion and well worn, with his hair a little long and a drawn but elegant face and a mouth made to smile. Somehow occupying the same space was a figure of legend, a towering being of enormous power clad in green and gold, grasping in one hand a great spear, a high horned helm set upon his brow.

"Who are you?" said Sakura.

He smirked at her- they both did. One looked rather warm, like a teacher looking upon a pupil he thought lost. The other more… predatory.

"Very well. I won't patronize you, little _v__ísendakona_. You stand before the last of the frost-giants, the Jotun son of the king of the Aesir, called Loki Laufesyon by some, Loki the lie-smith."

He knelt before her, sweeping his arms out in a grand gesture. "The last king of Asgard, at your service."

Sakura was stunned.

"Uh, hi," she said.

"Children these days," he sighed, standing. "Ah, good. The iron woman and my ace in the hole are almost here."

* * *

Toji felt like he had a cold when he woke up, like his sinuses and chest were stuffed with cotton, and he labored to breathe. He felt something cinched around his throat and gasped for air, straining against it, and heard a soft clink as he moved, bonds on his hands clapping against the metal table to which he was bound. He was lying on his back, and to his side was Shinji Ikari, who he thought was Hikari's boyfriend -he hadn't talked to her in a while, between his sister and Rei- and to the other side of him was the von Doom girl, grinding her teeth so loud he could hear it halfway across the room. Shinji wept softly to himself, his head bobbing every time he choked out a little sob.

"You teenage boys think you're invincible," a sultry voice said

Toji choked. The hottest woman he'd ever seen walked a slow circle around his table, dressed in next to nothing. His initial response to her faded when he looked more closely. Her skin was chalk white and unnaturally smooth, almost shiny, and her gait was strange and exaggerated, her hips moving with a pronounced sway that made her ass, which hung halfway out of her skimpy clothes, flex with each step. Her hair was as black as coal and bound up in a loose ponytail, and her eyes were red- not like Rei's eyes, _all _red, without even whites.

"Of course, it's true in your case," she said, tracing her fingernail over his chest. "My wayward clone found herself quite the slab of beef. I can see why she likes you."

Toji blushed. "Did she says she… wait, what?"

The woman leaned over him, pressing her ample bosom together between her arms. "I wonder why I never noticed you before, Mister Suzahara. You have quite the fascinating mutation. You don't even know what you can do, do you?"

He shook his head. He was starting to get a vibe from this woman. She scared him. It was like going to a zoo and seeing a lion pacing back and forth, obviously thinking about eating him but held in check by iron bars, except he was the one who couldn't get out. His head thunked against the table and he pulled his arms forward.

The bonds didn't budge, but rattled.

The woman sighed. "That's the first thing everyone tries. Haven't you ever read a comic book? I suppose next you'll demand to know who I am."

"Who are you?"

She smiled, but it was thin and lifeless, like an animal baring its teeth, and her eyes remained hollow and hungry. "Why Toji, I'm your doctor."

"Where's Rei?"

She snapped her tongue against the side of her mouth. "I suppose I should thank you for keeping an eye on her for me. Without you, she might have gone I know not where, and been lost to me."

Toji's stomach curled up and went cold, and he felt his eyes stinging.

"After we found you, I thought I'd observe for a while. Her tail is new. Her younger sisters, I'm afraid, tended to have less stable mutations."

"You mean the other clones," said Toji.

"Yes, the other clones. Do you know why I haven't killed you and dissected you yet?"

"You can't," said Toji.

She tapped his collar. "I can while you wear this."

For emphasis, she raked her finger, just her one finger, across his chest. He jerked, wincing from the sudden agony. He'd forgotten what pain felt like. He looked down and saw a long, shallow gash across the meat of his chest, weeping blood. Summers touched her finger to it, and then to her tongue, and her eyes lolled back momentarily in her head.

"Fascinating," she said, resting her hand on his shoulder. "It's in your bloodline. I'll bet that sister of yours has some interesting gifts, too. Too bad we didn't find her."

Toji jerked. Sakura got away. Maybe she-

He twitched on the table, breathing hard. It felt like something icy and slippery was slithering around his skull, and the woman grinned, watching his reaction.

"Sakura, yes," she said. "She healed herself, but she said something about-" her eyes narrowed, "Spells. I'd rather like to know how that works. I wonder if she has an affinity for chaos energies, or it's simple telepathy. If she didn't dream this training she told you about, it won't help you."

The woman stood up, licking her finger clean. "I've been in this game far too long to be taken down by a bunch of children." She gestured to the others. "These two may be the most powerful mutants alive, and they didn't stand a chance against me."

Toji clenched his teeth.

"Now, you're thinking about hurting me. You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" she said, batting her eyelashes.

She put her hand on his stomach. Her fingers were cold, like nothing living. She made a little purring sound.

"Hmm. I may need to keep you intact after all. Maybe you and the Ikari boy can take turns. Would you like that?"

She looked at him for a second and then drew back, surprised. "No? You think I'm disgusting. I'm insulted, Toji. I'm hurt. Just because I'm different," she sniffed, mocking sadness with her alien, lifeless expressions. "It's too bad your heart has already been claimed."

Toji sputtered, shaking his head.

"Oh, don't deny it. You have _feelings_ for that pathetic little creature. Oh, she's so fragile and sad, I'll just hug all her problems away. Did you think you're a hero in a story? Is that what you think? There's no happy ending in this, boy."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I enjoy seeing people suffer, mostly," she shrugged, chest heaving. "After the things I've seen, you'd lose faith in humanity, too."

She snapped her head around. "Bring her in."

Toji tensed, pulling at the metal cuffs holding him to the table. The girl that attacked the house led Rei in, holding her tightly by the arm, turning her pale skin pink from the pressure. He could see the girl's eyes, now. They were hollow and lifeless, and her face was a mask of cruelty.

"Mother," she said, and pushed Rei forward.

Rei recoiled, tears welling up in her eyes, and shook her head vigorously. The pale woman touched her cheek, but there was only an imitation of warmth in the gesture. She moved like a snake, too smooth and precise.

"My wayward child. How I've missed you. Did you think you could escape from me?"

She stepped behind Rei, running her fingers through her silver-blue hair. "He took good care of you, so I'm not going to kill him yet. I want you to see him squirm. It's time for you to learn the price for defying me, Five."

She grabbed Rei by the back of the neck and lifted her, squealing, onto the table. Rei cried out and thrashed her limbs, trying to get away. The girl with the claws stared impassively, watching it all like she was looking in a mirror, her eyes glassy. The pale woman pinned Rei down by the throat and clamped her hands down, and then her legs. She was strong, so strong Rei couldn't resist. It was like watching a child struggle with an adult. Rei whimpered as the pale woman ran her hand down her tail and tugged at it sharply.

"Interesting. I never expected you to develop the physical mutation. How long have you been able to teleport?"

Rei remained silent, defiant.

The woman sighed. "Mana, the boy. Cut him. Not too deeply, I want him alive for a while."

Toji recoiled as the girl strode towards him, a pair of silvery claws sliding out of her palm. With a detached, uncaring look on her face, she reached out and slipped the blade into the meat of Toji's shoulder and he screamed, jerking against the table from the fiery pain as it slid against the bone. She drew it back quickly, blood flowing freely down his chest now. He gasped for breath, trying to bite down on the pain.

"Summers," von Doom snapped, her voice ragged, as if she'd been crying. "Enough of this."

The woman, Summers, looked at her. "You really are the most arrogant bitch," she snapped.

"The battle," Rei wheezed, eyes pleading. "The battle. Don't hurt him. He didn't know."

"Ignorance of the crime is no excuse," Summers said in a sing-song voice. "The other shoulder, Mana."

Toji braced himself but it didn't help, and he screamed anyway. When the girl drew the blade out he thrashed, going pale at the sight of his lifeblood pouring over his chest. He breathed hard, biting back more grunts of pain as every motion sent shooters tearing through his body. Mana looked at him blankly, as if he were an insect she'd just torn the wings from.

"What's wrong with you?" he said, staring at her.

Summers leaned on the table, resting on her elbows. "I wonder if you realized this would happen," said Summers. "I've been reading your dull little mind since you came back."

She stood up, and put her hands on her hips. "You have… _feelings_ for him. It's pathetic, you mewling little thing. I didn't make you so you could rut with a fumbling teenage boy."

She put her hand on Rei's head, and she squirmed, biting at nothing; sweat prickled on her pale, soft skin. Toji saw the monster's cold, lifeless fingers touching Rei and yanked at his bonds, ignoring the flaring pain in his arms. Summers looked at him with a wicked, hateful smile.

"All those nights sleeping in the room next door," she sighed, "and all the poor little doll wanted was some comfort. She'd lie abed in the morning after you left for school, curled up in the warmth of the morning sun, hugging your pillow and smelling its scent, wishing it was you, and she doesn't even know why. She doesn't understand it, or anything else."

She yanked her hand back as if touching something hot. "You dull, witless creature. He doesn't think of you that way at all."

Rei sobbed a little, and Toji opened his mouth to protest… and his mouth refused to budge. Something invisible, something all-strong, held his mouth shut, clenched his teeth together so hard they hurt, and then his mouth started moving on its own, words that weren't his escaping from his lips. He heard Summers' voice in his head, each syllable like an icepick driving into the back of his head, and her words passed his lips, on his own tongue, in his own voice.

"She's right," Toji's mouth said. "You're disgusting. So pasty pale, and so silly and stupid."

Rei sobbed, curling up on the table, or trying to. Toji's eyes were wet with tears and he blinked them away, but they started to fall anyway.

_It's not true,_ he thought, _she's making me_.

Summer's voice rang in his skull.

+She believes whatever I tell her, and now she's heard it from your own mouth. Let's keep going.+

His mouth moved again. "You're nothing but a burden. Why would I ever develop feelings for a stupid, silly little girl that doesn't know the difference between reality and fantasy? All you did was eat my food and sleep in my bed and keep me from seeing my injured sister. I only kept you around because I could tell you're too stupid to survive on your own."

Summers looked at him, satisfied. He felt her grip on him relax and willed himself to scream, to cry out that it wasn't true, but his jaw froze, resisting his efforts to twist it open and cry out to her. Her crimson eyes, sparkling with tears, locked on his.

_It's not true. It's not true. _

+I'm in her head. She doesn't believe you.+

Summers jerked, her eyes widening slightly. A sound came from everywhere at once, and Toji froze, listening to it. It was coming from speakers on the ceiling- some kind of public address system.

_Oh mama, I'm in fear of my life from the long arm of the law_

"What the hell is that?" Summers snapped. "Mana, go find out who's doing that and eviscerate them. I'm not in the mood."

_Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home_

"What _is_ that?" Summers roared, clenching her fists.

Shinji's head lifted up. Under his eyes, puffy from weeping, he was smiling secretly to himself.

"That," he rasped, "Is Styx."

* * *

Ritsuko angled towards the school, the suit whirring as it compensated for the weight on her back. The girl had yanked her goggles down to shield her eyes from the wind, despite one of the lenses being heavily cracked. As she came in and circled the dormitories, her suit brought up a tac display on the helicopters and began sweeping for targeting. As she came in for a landing, rolling her feet down, Hikari jumped off her back and they landed beside each other.

An alarm tweaked in her ear and she turned, but Hikari was already moving. She moved with a dancer's grace, alien and liquid, like she was faster than the rest of the world. As the bullets pinged off of Ritsuko's armor, Hikari simply avoided them, twisting and shifting through the air so that she was wherever they weren't. Ritsuko turned, bringing up her gauntlets, but Hikari somersaulted across the grass, yelping as she twisted in the air, and dropped down into the middle of a squad of soldiers.

She grabbed one of their rifles, yanked it away, and spun it around herself like a club. When they tried to shoot her in close she either leaned out of the way or fired that webbing from her wrist and yanked the weapons out of their hands. They came at her with their bare fists and she just moved away, trained men grasping at empty air while she danced, twisting and launching herself through the air, clattering her fists and feet against their helmets. She stood on her hands and kicked with both feet, stood on one hand and fought with her fist and feet all at once.

It was over so fast, Ritsuko barely had time to react. She opened her helmet.

"Damn, kid," she said, incredulous.

"Come on," said Hikari, breathless. "We have to find the students."

Ritsuko looked down. "Your leg is bleeding again."

"I ain't got time to bleed," said Hikari.

Ritsuko smirked at her, blinking. "…and I'm a god damned sexual tyrannosaurus. You're staying here while I go back to Nerv."

"No," she snapped, "I'm going with you."

Ritsuko didn't have time to argue. She dropped her visor down and scanned the area, looking for warm bodies. Her FLIR picked up a cluster of people in the school building ahead, and bodies everywhere else. Some of them were cooling off. Ritsuko took point, holding up her gauntlets until they were inside. She stopped at the door where the heat signatures were gathered, and gently pushed inside.

"Uh," she said, looking around. "Hi everybody."

A cluster of students was cowering in the upper part of the lecture hall, hidden behind desks and stacks of books. Misato Katsuragi was standing in her pajamas and a pair of old boots and a suit jacket, holding a rifle, while another one of the teachers stood beside her, grinning ear to ear when he saw Hikari. One of the students was with them, looking on expectantly.

"Our knight in shining armor arrives," said the teacher she didn't know. "And you must be the Amazing Spider-Girl."

"Uh, yeah," said Hikari. "So, is everybody okay?"

"We're fine," said Misato.

Ritsuko looked around, and popped her helmet. "Misato?"

"Rits? What the hell?"

She looked at the other teacher. Her armor whirred as she nodded. "Who's that?"

"This is Erik. He's my boyfriend. He turns into a werewolf."

The man -Erik- rolled his eyes. "Everyone loves the wolf trick. I suppose you're planning to invade Nerv."

"I, ah," said Ritsuko. "Yeah, something like that. Who are you again?"

"He's with us," the student said, "For now. Hello, Doctor Akagi."

"Sakura?" said Hikari.

"How do you know who I am?" said Ritsuko.

She shrugged her narrow shoulders. "Magic."

She looked at Hikari, who shrugged as well. "Let's just roll with it."

"We'll escort you out," said Ritsuko. "Then, we have to get to Nerv. You should be safe in one of the shelters."

Misato hefted her gun. Her companion turned to the students.

"Children, I'd like everyone who recently discovered they have amazing powers and has been having an existential crisis while keeping them secret to raise their hands, please."

Ritsuko looked up as about half of the hands in the room shot up.

Erik grinned. "I'm sure they'll be fine. I think it would be much to all our benefit if miss Suzahara and miss Horaki join us as we head down to into the Geofront."

"Hold on," said Misato, "I'm coming, too."

"I know," he sighed. "I just wanted to make sure you had a chance to argue with me."

She narrowed her eyes at him, and nudged his arm with the stock of her gun.

Ritsuko dropped her visor closed. "Shall we?"

Erik smirked. "Let's broaden our minds."

"How do we get down there?" said Hikari.

"Access shaft. This way."

Ritsuko turned, stomping through the hallway, and the others rushed to follow her. She brought up a map of the school from the MAGI's files and used it to make it to the street quickly, passing through only two doors. This place was a security disaster. Something was going to have to be done about that. Thankfully, there was direct access nearby- the pilots had to get to headquarters in a hurry, after all. She overrode the protocols with a minimal effort and called a tram car to take them down to the Geofront floor.

"Well," said Hikari, once they were inside, "This is awkward."

Erik crouched beside her. "What happened to your leg?"

"I got stabbed a little," she said. "I'll walk it off."

He reached for her. "Let me-"

Sakura snapped her arm to his. "Don't accept anything from him."

"Excuse me," said Misato, towering over her with her hands on her hips.

"We're not in school," said Sakura, "I don't have to do what you say."

She sounded less than sure of herself. Ritsuko rolled her eyes inside her helmet. "This is going to be dangerous. Summers will know we're coming. She has the entire base on lockdown, and there's Russians on the surface."

"Whose idea was it to build a secret underground base in a secret underground base?" said Hikari, leaning on the wall.

Ritsuko shrugged, her armor mimicking the motion. "Government operation. No one noticed me building Iron Man suits, either."

"We need some kind of a plan," said Misato. "We can't just go charging in. We'll get slaughtered. I'm the only person here with any actual military experience."

"Did you, by chance, keep the uniform?" said Erik.

"Maybe," she said.

"Do you mind?" said Sakura.

"Here's the plan," said Erik. "Miss Katsuragi will come with me. I will remain on the surface."

"And do what?" said Ritsuko.

He grinned at her. "Misbehave. No one will be going after you, I assure you."

"I can help," said Hikari.

"No. You must go. You have to be there. Trust me."

She nodded. "I have questions for you."

"Later," he said.

"Why do I have Peter Parker's powers? Did you know this was going to happen? How did you know to give me the book?"

"I said, later," he sighed.

Hikari stuck her tongue out at him, and he barked out a sharp laugh. She was tilting a little on her feet.

"Maybe she should cover you after all," said Ritsuko. "She's gotten pretty badly banged up."

"I'm fine," Hikari insisted.

The tram reached the Geofront floor, and Ritsuko stepped out, looking around. She saw smoke in the distance, rising from the crater where the object hand landed, and her radar was picking up motion. She switched to infrared and swallowed hard, looking at the movement of men and vehicles on the surface, around the pyramid and the infirmary.

"Whatever you're going to do," she said, "Do it now."

Erik tugged at the collar of his jacket and rolled his neck until it popped. "I want you all to know that I could make a _hilarious_ penis joke right now, but I have too much taste."

Ritsuko was about to ask what he went when he stalked forward, stepped of the platform, and in between steps the man was gone and an enormous snake slammed into the ground, kicking up a wave of dust as it slithered forward, lifting its enormous head and hissing through fangs the size of jackhammers. It reared up and stormed across the surface, undulating, heavy, slick scales that glowed iridescent in the strange light of the vast cavern. Misato let out a war whoop and ran after him in her pajamas, carrying her rifle.

"Okay then," said Ritsuko. "Let's go."

She moved in front of the girls, running towards headquarters. She heard shooting, and tried not to look too hard at the giant snake carrying an armored personnel carrier in its mouth. When she hit the front door she'd already overridden the security and charged inside. Once she was close enough, she tapped the MAGI's cameras, bringing up feeds in front of her eyes.

She blinked a few times.

Maya was going on a rampage, crashing through walls, the terrified cluster of technicians running behind her as she plowed into squads of enemy soldiers and took them apart with brute force, flinging their bodies aside, wading through gunfire as if it were rain. Ritsuko charged through the lobby, heavy thudding footfalls echoing through the glass atrium. Hikari leapt on her back and clung there, watching over her shoulder.

The other girl, Sakura, murmured something and put out her hands and _flew_, her feet hovering a few inches off the ground as she zipped along beside Ritsuko.

"How the hell are you doing that?"

"Magic," said Sakura. "I don't know how much help I'm going to be. I'm almost tapped out, but I think I can shut down Summers' telepathy."

"You can hang back," said Hikari.

"I can't. Summers has my brother."

"How-" said Ritsuko.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's magic. I don't have to explain it."

Ritsuko shrugged. "MAGI. Override the PA system. Load my ass kicking mix. Track five."

"Yes, Doctor Akagi."

Music began to blare around her as she forced open the elevator shaft and jumped down, slowing her descent with her boots. She stopped at the level of Summer's lab, blasted the doors open, and stepped out. This time, she wasn't sneaking. She blew the heavy locks out on the doors and rammed them aside with her heavy gauntlets, and stomped inside. A quick FLIR scan picked out sources of heat- she knew by the temperature differential which one was Summers, and unless one of them had a fever, the von Doom girl was there, too.

"Everybody behind me," said Ritsuko, barging through the empty, false lab.

She crashed through the false bookshelf and then through the real lab, breaking into the trophy room. Hikari jumped from her back, looking around in wonder.

"What the hell is this?" she said. "I know this stuff."

She picked up the horned helmet, the one Ritsuko had seen the last time she was here. "I know this," she said, turning it in her hands.

"Let's go," said Ritsuko, stomping forward, past the relics. Hikari jogged after her, tucking the helmet under her arm. Sakura ran along beside her.

"This is superhero stuff," said Hikari, panting. "Where did she-"

"She probably killed them," said Ritsuko. "She's dangerous. Stay behind me and let's do this."

Hikari nodded. Sakura looked grim. Ritsuko blasted the doors open and rushed inside, past the tables. It wasn't far, now. The blast door at the end of the lab was more heavily sealed than the others, and she ran at it, firing her repulsors as hard as she dared. She slammed into the heavy plated door shoulder first, knocked it down, and found Summers standing over Rei Ayanami, holding the girl by the throat.

Ritsuko felt her bile rise, and her chest tightened in rage. There was only one thing to say, really.

"Get away from her, you _bitch." _

Summers barked a sharp laugh. "Honestly? That's the best you can come up with?"

"No," said Ritsuko. "This is," and shot her.

The repulsor blast hit Summers square in the chest. She lifted up and flipped up, smashed into an empty exam table, and hit the wall, hard, then came down on the floor. Ritsuko stomped towards her.

"I know who you are," said Ritsuko. "You're Mister Sinister's daughter."

Summers got up, cackling madly. "Is that what you think? You ridiculous airhead, you really were meant to be a blonde. If only you'd been born with as much brains as you have tits, we might be able to have an intelligent conversation."

Summers smiled, and it felt like a pair of gargantuan hands made of ice crashed into Ritsuko's skull, staggering her. She missed her shot, gouging a chunk of masonry out of the ceiling as she turned, clutching at her head through the armor.

"That is who I am," said Summers.

Images flooded into her head, unbidden. Her mother staring at her in disapproval. Kaji standing with Misato, their lips touching in a secret kiss as Ritsuko held a crumpled love letter in her hand. The images faded, and she found herself in the worst place she could possibly be.

An entry plug.

Summers' voice rang in her mind. "Do you want to know what it felt like, when your mother died? When the Eva swallowed her soul? I was there, inside her, savoring it, feeling the taste of her agony. I kept it close to myself, so I could share with you. Before I crush your mind, I just want to thank you for building a Super Solenoid powered Iron Man suit for me."

Ritsuko clutched the side of her head as she writhed in the seat of the plug. It was like someone was trying to suck her out through the pores in her skin, like twin blades of frozen fire were jamming into the sides of her skull. She could feel the Eva pulling at her and screamed as she wept, hearing her own mother's voice begging as the monster violated her mind. Her vision doubled and she saw Summers lifting her by the throat, then hurling her into the wall. Red lines appeared through the schematic in her HUD. She fought the feeling, focusing on the sensation of her armor around her, of the world tilting under her feet. Summers backhanded her and the blow snapped her head around and slammed her back into the wall. With her bare fingers, the woman began peeling her helmet off, and when the air touched her scalp the pain doubled, the image became a thousand times more real, and she could hear her own voice like an echo in the distance, begging and screaming, pleading for mercy between shrieks of agony.

* * *

Rei watched, pulling at her wrist cuffs as Doctor Summers lifted Akagi by the throat, her destroyed helmet now lying on the floor. Akagi's eyes rolled back in her head. One of the two girls that followed her, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and ratty pajama pants, her leg clotted with blood, leapt at Summers, who lashed out and caught her by the throat, holding her over the floor.

"_You_," Summers hissed. "I should have known Gendo would screw it up. Never send a man do to a woman's job."

The girl flailed, but could not tear free of Summers' grasp. Rei knew it was pointless. She was too strong. She could kill them all. Tears welled in Rei's eyes. The other girl yelped as Mana launched herself at her, too strong, and had her pinned on the floor. She barely held Mana's claws back, holding her by the wrists, a slack-eyed look of naked bloodlust in her eyes. Mana was pressing the blades closer, closer, until the other girl froze, and Mana froze with her. They locked on each other's eyes, and something happened Rei could not see.

"Rei," Toji rasped.

Rei looked at him, hunching her shoulders up.

"Rei, you have to help us. You're not wearing a collar."

Rei swallowed and felt her bare throat bob, and trembled. She couldn't.

"She'll hurt me," Rei whimpered, so soft her voice barely carried.

"No, she won't," said Toji. "I won't let her. She was lying, Rei. She made me say those things. It's not true."

"Rei," said Shinji. "Get our collars off. Get mine off, I'll get the rest. You have to help us."

"We'll stop her," said Toji. "We'll be able to go outside. You can to go to school with me and meet my friends. I'll take you to the mall."

"You can't stop her," said Rei. "She's invincible."

"No, she is not," said von Doom, the other pilot. She had never spoken to Rei before, not even to exchange courtesies. "Master your fear or it will master you."

Rei's chest clenched, and she closed her eyes. She heard the heavy thump and the stench of rotting eggs shot up her nose, but she was used to it now. She swayed as she felt solid ground under her bare, aching feet. She was standing in front of Shinji. Summers looked over just as she put her fingers on Shinji's collar.

Shinji looked her in the eye, and nodded.

"You little bitch!" Summers roared, tossing Akagi aside. She shoved the Spider-Girl out of the way, sending her sprawling across the floor.

Rei swallowed, hard, and then she jumped. She burst back into the world a few feet away, holding a metal collar in her hands. Summers stared at her in shocked, mute horror, and then her eyes snapped around to Shinji as he glanced at his bonds and they popped free, clattering across the floor. The others were freed at the same instant, and their collars snapping open. The PA speakers whined, from the sudden magnetic disturbance.

Shinji took a step into empty air and lifted up from the floor, arms held out to his sides, humming with potential.

"My turn."


	13. We Can Be Heroes

_Previously on…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

* * *

_Our heroes are in dire straits, but the tide is turning. _

_After a brutal battle, Hikari, with the help of Ritsuko Akagi, managed to defeat the Green Goblin and unmask him, leaning his true identity- Shinji's father, the commander of Nerv! Realizing that his alter ego is a trap set by Summers, Ritsuko spared his life at Hikari's urging, and the duo rushed to the Academy. _

_Along the way they met Sakura, who had just learned the true identity –so to speak- of Erik Lawson: Loki Laufeyson, the Last King of Asgard. Together, the group broke back into Nerv headquarters to confront Summers. _

_Meanwhile, Summers, having revealed her true identity as a gender-swapped clone of Nathaniel Essex, a.k.a. Mister Sinister, psychologically tortured Shinji and Toji, physically threatening the recaptured Rei, and bonded adamantium to Mari's bones!_

_As Ritsuko and the others broke in, Rei was momentarily freed from Summers' grasp, and the others convinced her to help- using her powers, she freed Shinji, who in turn freed the others… to face an immortal, implacable foe with superhuman strength, near invulnerability and crushingly powerful telepathy. _

_They won the first battle, but will they win the war?_

* * *

"**WE CAN BE HEROES"**

* * *

Shinji clenched his fists. Summers had Ritsuko and Hikari by the throats, and Rei was scrabbled up into a corner, hiding behind her knees, still clutching the collar she'd pulled from his throat with her power. Asuka and Suzahara moved next to him, and he took a slow breath, trying to focus.

He was in the moment called the calm before the storm. Summers stared at him for just a fraction of a second, and that was all he needed. He felt the currents of invisible magnetic force flowing around him, lifting him into the air with the strength of the Earth's own magnetism. His hair stood on end and the power coursed through him, roiling through his veins, pounding his heart. He felt alive, and he felt the life coursing around him. He could feel Asuka's heartbeat speeding up, hear her power singing to him as she tapped into the same source that he did- not manipulating but converting, drawing heat into the air around herself as her hair lifted up on invisible currents and twisting snakes of light surrounded her closed fists.

Summers turned towards him, dropping Ritsuko. Shinji sent a flicker of his power to gentle her fall, using the armor to carry her to the floor. She was badly hurt and her eyes stared drunkenly at nothing. Summers was in her mind, and she was coming for him, he could feel it. He could also feel rebar- the whole base was made of concrete, and great twisting screws of steel ran all through it. Unbidden, words flooded his mind, the words of a kindly old woman who hid steel in her spine and taught him the secrets behind his gifts.

_Your instinct will be to use brute force, but you don__'t need to. The world is your plaything, your weapon. You are the master of metal in a world of metal, as dangerous as a shark in the ocean but more. Hone your skill and use it creatively and you will be unstoppable. You don't need to crush your enemies. They will give you what you need to do it for you. _

He reached out with two fingers on his left hand, using the gesture to focus himself, reaching through the effort of rising from the floor to find a strip of steel in the wall, a twisted screw as thick as his wrist and as long as he was tall. Summers started to say something, started to speak, and he could feel her oily presence pressing against his mind, reaching into his brain, like a collection of distant voices.

A flick of his fingers and the steel beam tore out of the wall in a crash of shattered concrete and dust and surged forward. Shinji could be subtle, deft and quick and clever, but she was hurting Hikari.

The beam impaled through Summer's chest from behind, tearing out from between her breasts, sliding through her until a good three feet of twisted metal, her shredded flesh and cracked ribs clinging to its razor sharp twists, jutted out of her chest. She dropped Hikari who let out a small, pained sound as she dropped to the floor and rolled on her side, and Summers took a staggering, confused step forward, clawing at her bar, horrid sucking sounds gurgling out of her lips as she struggled to draw air into her ruined lungs. She took a step and sagged to her knees and pitched forward until she rested on the bar, her arms dangling at her side.

Shinji turned to Toji's sister. The girl with the claws was about to kill her, until Shinji willed her to stop and she froze in place, her metal skeleton locked by magnetic force. He spread his fingers and forced her back, pressing her arms apart, and Sakura let go, but her gaze remained glassy. The clawed girl's eyes were unfocused, staring at nothing but locked on Sakura's face. He pushed her back against the wall.

Then, he heard laughing.

Summers lurched and sat back, the jagged metal post still rammed through her chest. She grabbed it one hand with an awful twisting crunch and yanked it forward, gasping, then again, her eyes lolling back in her head as her tongue licked over her lips. A third yank pulled it right through her body, pulling strips of white bloodless flesh like a rotten melon that hung down from the hole below her throat over her black bustier. She sucked in a breath and there was a revolting squelching sound as the air flowed in through her chest, too, and she tossed the bar aside, letting it clatter on the floor. As she stood up, the ruins of her chest pulled back, sliding back up into the hole, twisting and squeezing together like worms made of clay. She took another deep breath, and grinned madly, her eyes all red and aglow, and Shinji's jaw dropped.

"Boy," she hissed, "I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I watched empires rise and fall. I stood at the bottom of the world and saw the end. I was planning and scheming and building a future when your grandfather was still a wet spot in some woman. Did you think you could _stab me to death?__"_

Asuka shrieked in fury. "_Where is Mari?__" _

She didn't give Summers time to answer. The light gathered around her outstretched hands and there was no flame. A beam of light lanced out from her fingertips, so bright it left a purple mark in Shinji's vision as he snapped his head away for fear he would go blind. Summers lifted her hand and caught the beam, diverting it on some plane of invisible force, and it cut through the wall, leaving a blackened, flaming scar in the ceiling over her head. Asuka's eyes widened and she moved with a snarl on her lip, but Summers barely moved and Asuka screamed, clutching her head.

Toji stomped through the lab, shouldered one of the exam tables out of his way with a squeal of metal, and crashed into Summers, shouldering into her side with a sickening crunch as her arm folded unnaturally and her chest tented in, bits of perfectly clean bone ripping through her pale skin. He kept going, threw his arms around her, and powered her into the wall, cracks spreading around them as they hit.

Shinji moved, the tables wobbling as he reached out to take hold of them, and Summers pushed Toji away, shrieking in fury. Moving with unnatural, inhuman grace, all pretense dropped, she looked drawn and thin, her mouth too wide and fanged beneath her red, red eyes, and the tables settled back down as he clutched his head. The pressure came from all directions and slammed into his skull and he toppled to the floor. Asuka writhed beside him, screaming _Mama mama mama _again and again and the world went white as Summers' psychic might wormed into his mind and flowed down his limbs like frozen fire and there was nothing left but screams.

* * *

Hikari lay on the floor. Everyone was screaming. Her leg hurt and her neck hurt where Summers had caught her by the throat and it was hard to breath. She dragged the air down her throat in ragged gasps, feeling it trying to close on her, and her leg was on fire. Ritsuko lay silent, her one eye open and locked on nothing, the other swollen shut. Hikari held her wounded arm to her side and watched as Shinji and Asuka dropped, shrieking, clutching her head.

Hikari blinked. The pale girl with the blur hair was slumped in the corner, clutching her head and sobbing. Hikari thought about moving towards her, but blinked. _She_ wasn't screaming, or writhing. Was Summers just not bothering with her? As she moved, she realized why. Every inch she pulled herself across the floor hurt, and made her vision swim. She looked up.

Summers wasn't paying any attention to her at all. She struggled with Toji, meeting him strength for strength, but not pushing him back. As she tried to writhe out of his grasp, raking him with clawed fingers, he held her tighter, crushing her around the waist, forcing a groan of expelled air out of her throat as her ribs cracked. His feet sank into the floor, cracks spiraling out from his heels.

Hikari rolled over. She had to do something.

Her foot hit the helmet, and it rolled away from her. She reached out and caught it with a web. If it was what she thought it was, she had to get it to Shinji. She pulled it to herself and held it to her chest as she crawled across the floor, lying on her good side. Her leg didn't look like it was bleeding anymore, but she was so tired. She just wanted to lay down and sleep and pretend this was all a dream, that she was warm and safe and she fell asleep with Shinji on the couch and all this hurt and cold were just a nightmare, but the world throbbed in her head and she inched towards him, helmet in hand.

Closer and closer she moved. She grabbed his calf and pulled herself towards him, dragging the helmet with her. A little bit further, and she could rest her head on his knee. She felt like going to sleep right there, the tiredness dragging at her, but she didn't. She pulled herself up, and up, until she was lying nearly on top of him and settled against his side.

His eyes were vacant, his jaw working in soundless horror as he squirmed against the floor, clutching at nothing. She grabbed his hand and it closed around hers, violently strong, moreso than she'd ever realized. She pulled the helmet up, put it on the floor in front of his head, and started working his head into it, supporting his neck with her hand.

"Shinji," she pleaded, "Shinji, wake up."

He didn't move.

"Please," she gasped.

She looked over her shoulder. Summers snarled and saw her, but her eyes flicked to Toji's sister, lying on the floor, and she jerked, her body going rigid as if something struck her, invisible.

* * *

Sakura was in a house.

She blinked. She was only trying to confuse and slow down Mana Kirishima, but when she put her mind to the girl's, she found no barriers, no will of her own, and slipped into her skin easily. She had a dim recollection of the world outside, of a harsh woman's voice and the sound of concrete tearing and metal clanging, but it was a memory, like a half remembered dream. She was lying in a bed that was at once familiar and totally alien, and it was a child's bed, her legs dangling off the end. She sat up and looked around.

The bedroom was small. There was barely enough room to stand up next to the bed and nightstand, on top of which rested an ornate doll house, out of place with everything else in the room. She blinked as she looked around, admiring the neatness. By the dresses hanging in the closet, it was a little girl's room.

"I'm in Mana's safe place," she said, looking around. "Where she keeps her secret self."

She went to the door and slid it aside. She was in a very small apartment, and there was another bedroom across the hall. The door was ajar. She pushed it aside and saw the spare makings of a married couple's bedroom, felt a twinge of embarrassment, and slid it closed. Voices called to her from the main room, and she crept towards it, clinging to the wall.

A little girl ran past her, small for her age, with bright eyes and auburn hair. Sakura winced as the figure passed through her, a brief electric tingle followed by numbness. She was the ghost here, the intruder. She turned and followed the little girl as she ran into the hallway and into the arms of a short, plain woman, no taller than Sakura herself, who scooped the girl up into an affectionate embrace. She was joined a moment later by an American serviceman, red of hair and beard, a navy man in a white uniform.

They radiated light, pure and hopeful, the raw stuff of happiness. Sakura's breath caught, and she felt herself quiver. It couldn't last, she knew. Then, the light came. Her mind found the explanation as soon as the blinding, searing light poured through the windows, through every tiny crack and pore in the wall, swallowed the world. In the aftermath of Second Impact, a Chinese splinter faction launched a nuclear missile at Old Tokyo.

Sakura closed her eyes, but there was no closing against the light. Heat tore through her, and she felt it as her molecules came undone, her being was torn apart at the very most basic level, the power of the raw stuff of creation unleashed in a searing heat that destroyed everything.

Everything but Mana.

There was a time between the blast and the little girl's waking, but she had no memory of it, and therefore it did not exist. When Mana woke up, Sakura sat next to her, invisible, intangible, unable to change what she saw around her. The little girl crawled out of the smoking ruins, not noticing the tiny cuts healing on her porcelain doll's skin, and stumbled into the street, empty of all but death. There was no one left. She was alone.

"Mommy?" the little girl said. "Daddy?"

Sakura's guts twisted, and she reached out for the child, but her hands passed through nothingness, a ghostly hint of what was. She heard a voice and turned.

"You're not supposed to be here."

It was him.

Sinister.

He towered over her, a monster out of a child's fairy tale, the picture of some blood sucking nosferatu thing from a cheesy movie. Clad all in black but for the ruby amulet strung about his chest, he looked down on her like an insect with blank red eyes, chalk skin twisting into a sneer.

"Neither are you," Sakura spat back, standing defiant between him and the child. "She doesn't belong to you anymore."

"Everyone belongs to me," he rasped, moving towards her. "Everyone. I am eternal, unchangeable. I till mankind like a field and watch you grow, but the world is my garden and humanity is my crop, and you, little mutant, are an insect, a pest."

"I don't think so," said Sakura. "Get out."

"By what power do you think you can cast me out of my plaything? She's more my child than she ever was those dead shades."

"By the Winds of Watoomb," said Sakura.

A gale rose around her, a howling wind that came from everywhere at once, whipping around her arms and legs without disturbing a single hair on her head. She drew the child to her and now little Mana could see her, and she touched the girl's cheek gingerly with her finger.

"It'll be okay," she promised, lying. "Go to sleep. Sleep, now."

A whisper of power touched Mana Kirishma's soul and she fell silent, her eyes closing, and the world changed around them, back to the childhood bedroom with the dollhouse and the mother who salved her wounds and balmed her cuts before her genetic heritage stole pain from her forever, and though she could never return here, she could visit for a while and be free.

Sakura stood up and gazed on Sinister and the gale became a hurricane, the winds flapping at his robes, tearing at his hair, blasting so hard it scoured his skin, rending it from bloodless bones.

"Get," Sakura boomed, "_**out.**_"

Sinister lost his grip. She reached out and seized the corner of his cape, taking flight from Mana's body. For a brief moment she was a mote of possibility, occupying the all space at once, focused on the laboratory. Toji struggled with Summers, pinning her shrieking, hideous form to the wall as he tried to crush her in his arms and squeeze the un-life out of her. Asuka and Shinji lay on the floor, twisting in crushing, brutal nightmares. Hikari lurched towards them, carrying something in her arms, some point of singular calm in the psychic maelstrom. Akagi had passed out, her head lolled drunkenly to the side.

Sakura rammed herself into Natalie Summers' temple, and into her mind.

She was assaulted from all sides by searing heat, burning through her flesh. She felt her skin crisp and crackle and pull back from her muscles like a roasting chicken, felt the heat sear her very bones, turning them ash within her limbs. Raking tendrils of thorns scoured her, rending her tender skin, and she was crushed from all sides by boiling water, rushing her away into a dark place from where there was no exit.

She stood up, and closed her fists.

"Your defenses are strong," she said, "but you're not as strong as me, and you have to worry about everyone else. I only have to worry about you."

She stepped through the flaming, crushing, scything mire, sunk to her waist in mud that inflicted every agony on her, every pain known to man and some known only the fevered mind of a mad doctor, but she pressed on, feeling the ground firm beneath her feet. She felt Sinister's essence waver, and lights flashed in the distance.

Before her stood a hoary keep, ancient and strong behind a dozen moats, ringed with gargoyles of stone made flesh, hideous things that crawled over battlements and left claw marks in their wake, gazing upon her hungrily and angrily as though she were a morsel to eat, but there was something else, something he was trying to hide, and she saw a light in the distance.

_Do you think that__'s air your breathing now?_

She smiled, remembering, and her feet found solid footing. She had the third sight and feared no illusions. She passed Sinister's haunted castle and felt him raging at her, but the tapestries of this false mind were unraveling around her. He could overpower the others but not with her in his mind, striding like a giant towards the very center. Barbed wires snapped at her like whips and gouts of flame met her steps. Fiery ants crawled up her legs and sunk their rending jaws into her flesh, but she ignored them as she would a spring rain and strode forward, gathering herself up as she walked towards the light.

She saw images sliding over the surface, and reached to touch one.

"Father?"

Sinister sat at a desk, working at something. Sakura saw through a pair of eyes not her own- Natalie Summers' eyes. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror- a small, pale, sickly girl, and memories not her own flooded in her mind, threatening to drown her.

In that single moment, Sakura understood all. The memories unfolded themselves for her, expanding from a single point into a system of roots and branches. She saw the person that Natalie Summers was at all points. She saw a little girl on her first day of school. Asking where her mommy was, and why she didn't have one like all the other children. She saw her first kiss, her hopes and her dreams, the day her strange, distant father stepped out of her life and never came back.

Until one day.

Natalie was in high school. School had always been cruel to her, the other children afraid of her strange features and as she flowered into a young woman, jealous of her exotic appearance. She had a promise ring on her hand. His name was Elliot and all they did was kiss; she was afraid to go further, afraid that it would hurt and the other girls would know and call her names. Elliot was a good boy; he understood and never pushed or pressed and loved her all the same. She was fourteen years old and she thought she would marry him one day, and she loved math and enrolled in an advanced calculus course and solved the figures for fun. She lived with a woman named Mary that adopted her and was not like her mother, but they were good friends. She heard a clattering in the kitchen and got up from her little desk and closed her laptop and walked out into the kitchen in her pajamas.

Mary lay on the floor in a pool of blood and her throat was open and Natalie screamed and screamed, and her father was there, gaunt and hulking and sallow and _sagging_, all the air gone out of him like an old balloon, like he was fading.

"I do apologize," he said, "but you have something I need, my dear."

Sakura stood with her. She wished it was not a memory but truth, that she could share this girl's pain and take some of it from her as Essex rampaged into her mind. This was no delicate returning, no mind control, no subtle suggestion. He crushed her utterly. Sakura watched from _inside_ her mind as she screamed, feeling the numbness as he stole her limbs first, pushing her out of her body into a deep, dark cold place where there was no light or hope or memory.

Sakura watched, in stunned silence, as Essex raped his daughter's mind into nothingness and slipped into her skin like an old suit, and his body slumped on the floor and spread out like a melted cheese, unable to remember its shape, and he looked around with disdain and touched his belly.

"Disagreeable," he muttered.

Sakura raged. She clenched her fists and howled and the whole psychic landscape shook.

"She wasn't a clone, you bastard!" Sakura shrieked, rending the very essence of the world with her fingers. "She was a _person. _You _killed your daughter.__"_

"She was spare parts," Essex snorted, his voice lost in the gale.

Sakura stood up, rising out of the muck like a giant, casting Essex' illusions away from her, feeble blows from an aging, distracted warrior. She felt fresh, vital. She saw a light shine in the darkness and reached out for it.

All that Natalie Summers was, had been, she held in her hand. She pulled it close and drew it into her heart.

"I'll keep you safe," she whispered. "I'll set you free."

"This body is mine," Essex whispered in her ear, a terrible presence over her left shoulder.

Sakura smirked. "I know."

She turned and opened her sight wide, saw the silvery lines drawing out from the hated thing, reaching for the others. She couldn't stop him, she was already fading. She could buy them some time, and she could do one other thing.

"You'll never hurt anyone again," she said, clutching the tiny, wounded soul to her chest, so frightened and confused. "You're not going anywhere. By the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, I bind you and contain you that you may walk free no more."

Essex screamed, and Sakura drew back, pulling out of his mind, dragging the soul of the clone child with him, holding her close.

* * *

Shinji arched against the floor, his heart hammering in his chest. He thought it was going to explode. Everything was happening at once. Everything, ever. His father was telling him his mother was never coming back, told him he'd found another woman, told him he didn't need him. He berated Shinji with a thousand insults, so many he forgot what was truth and what was lie, because it no longer mattered. He saw Hikari beaten and broken, saw his mother screaming, saw himself failing, everyone's eyes locked on him as he ruined everything. He wanted to die so badly, but she wouldn't let him.

You're mine, the voice said, and it was his own voice.

Then, there was a weight on his chest. He smelled sweat and blood and… peanut butter. The scent filled his nostrils, made everything else turn into a haze, insubstantial. Warm lips brushed his own, and a voice boomed in his ear, soft and hopeful and sweet.

"Shinji," Hikari whispered, "Wake up. Please."

Something cold and heavy settled on his head. She held him by the neck, lifting something down over him, and it was like he was tossed out of flames and into an infinite sea of frozen brine, swirling around him. The voices were gone. He was sitting on the floor, so heavily, powerfully real. Hikari sat in his lap, her arms around his chest, her head on his shoulder. She was pale and her leg was bleeding, and she breathed raggedly, her forehead pressed to his throat.

He rose up, and cradled her in his arms. There was a helmet on his head. Asuka was on the floor, shrieking in pain. Ritsuko was unconscious. If he couldn't feel the blood sliding through her veins, he would have thought her dead. Toji's sister was passed out on the floor. Toji had Summers pinned to the wall.

And there was a helmet on his head.

Asuka stilled, and Ritsuko groaned. He could almost feel it, like a sound on the edge of hearing. He could feel the _push _as Summers, a drawn thin thing being crushed in Toji's arms, reached out to him with all her psychic might, and her face flickered from rage to confusion to horror as she saw…

…that he had a helmet on his head. Not just any helmet. He glanced at his reflection in a steel cabinet. It was old, one of the tiny horns broken off long ago, and dented and scratched, but it would serve.

"I'll-" she started.

"No," Shinji said, calmly, pulling Hikari close to him. "I will."

The exam table next to him ripped free of its moorings with a squeal of metal and sailed at her. Summers twisted in Toji's arms, being and twisting like a snake, her bones popping as she writhed out of his grasp, but she was just too slow. The flying table mashed her into the wall, drew back, following Shinji's gaze, and hit her again.

Asuka started to come around. She was moaning, clutching her head. She was on her knees. "Mari," she said.

Shinji felt her coming. Mari ran at him, her eyes dull, unfocused. He didn't hurt her. He just pinned her to the wall, spreading her arms so she wouldn't hurt herself. Ritsuko coughed and blinked her eyes open, and rolled onto her hands and knees, armor whirring and coughing as she shakily got up. She rushed out of the way as Shinji let summers fall, pulled another table from the floor, and pressed Summers between them, squeezing the steel together until he shook, feeling her body squeezing between the two metal slabs.

With a bellow sound halfway between a snort and a wet cough, the ruins of the Essex-thing pushed the tables apart, turning to him with a misshapen, broken face, all bulging red eyes and fangs, and charged at him. He hurled the tables at it again, but invisible force slowed them, and pushed them away. He had her by surprise, but the surprise was gone. Her mouth knitted back together well enough to form words.

"I'm going to make you watch me skin that one," she said, "_then_ I'm going to kill you."

"Hey," Ritsuko coughed.

Summers stopped, craning her broken neck around. Ritsuko aimed her arm at the creature and part of her elbow pad unfolded, and a tiny rocket, not much bigger than a pencil, popped out.

"Surprise, bitch."

The missile streaked at Summers and followed her as she tried to lurch out of the way. Shinji brought one of the ruined tables up in front of him, shielding himself and Hikari from the blast. Asuka threw herself up and was wreathed in flame, shielding Mari with her body. The little rocket hit Summers square in the belly and she looked down at it for a second, staring stupidly at the smoking engine cone sticking out of her pale skin.

It exploded. The sound hit him in the chest, too, and made his ears ring, and nothing ever sounded sweater. It was a ripping whump, and bits of undifferentiated white flesh went flying everywhere as the blast split Summers from groin to gullet, and she stood wavering on two legs, misshapen and broken all out of joint, the two halves of her upper body swaying drunkenly, her head hanging limply from one, sucking at the air.

Shinji didn't give her a second to reform herself. He threw the table at her and crushed her into the wall. He let Hikari's feet touch the floor and she sagged against him, breathing into his neck, and he reached out with his hand, pushing. He felt the ruin of flesh spreading out under the table, breaking apart like an insect under a shoe.

Streamers of white flesh slid around the edge of the table, coiling like snakes. They melded and folded together, joined as one, slithering into a mass of sagging white sludge as they squeezed out from under the table. The thing lurched forward, pulling streamers of itself behind it, barely human shaped now but for the eyes in its head-mass. It shifted as it moved, struggling to form arms legs, and a hollow, doughy, too-wide mouthed formed in its head.

"You can't stop me," it snarled, "I can come back from anything. I'm indestructible."

"Shinji," Asuka rasped, clutching her stomach. "The adamantium."

Summers' eyes reopened, and widened in horror.

She ran, her lumpy white body lurching unnaturally away from him. He raised his hand and strips of steel cracked up through the floor, grabbed her, and hauled her back. She tried to tear away, rending her own flesh, but it was too late. At a thought, the long, syringe-tipped tubes lifted up out of their rack and snaked out at her, coiling around her arms and legs, around her neck, and dragged her back.

She twisted as he pulled her back to the middle of the room. Hikari was stronger now, holding onto him with her arms around his neck. Summers writhed and twisted in the cables, lurching and bending in all directions. Then, she stopped.

She shifted. Her skin flowed like candle wax, melting itself around her popping, cracking bones. Suddenly the pale skinned, dark haired woman was gone, and a slighter, shorter woman, her hair a rich chestnut, her eyes a piercing green, looked him with pleading eyes.

"Please," she said in his mother's voice, "Please don't hurt me, Shinji."

Shinji froze, for just a second, and then raised his hand and curled it into a fist. The adamantium, bubbling hot in its tank, lifted up in a single mass, mirroring his gesture.

"That," Shinji said, his voice icy calm, "was a mistake."

He yanked his fist down and the molten metal surged down the tubes. The syringes lanced into Summers' flesh, the hot metal flowing down towards them. She arched her back and screamed as it surged into her, filling her belly as it began to expand, as though she was with child. She flailed at the air, screaming as steam poured out of her nostrils, her eyes and ears, and she shifted as she clawed at herself, her face becoming her own, then Asuka's, then his mother's, then Hikari's, her voice shifting accent and language and even sound from word to word as she screamed and pleaded for mercy.

Shinji spread his fingers and razor sharp tines of burning hot metal sliced out of her body from within as he drew her whole supply into her body. The metal scoured her flesh, sinking into it, barbs and hooks crawling through her as he clenched his teeth, shaking in fury. He poured it all into her.

Then, he ripped it _out_ of her. He pulled it out through her pores, through her eye sockets, through her ears, out from under her fingernails until it flowed over her flesh in a liquid river. She thrashed wildly, trying desperately to escape his grasp, but there was so much metal here. It slid over her, spreading, _cooling_, until only her face stuck out, crocodile tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Please," she croaked, "You can't do this to-"

He silenced her as the metal slid over her face, down her forehead and over her nose and lips, and pressed her mouth shut. He relaxed, and the tables clattered to the floor. Standing before him was a still hot but rapidly cooling statue of Natalie Summers in pale silvery metal, fixed, unmoving.

It would stay that way forever.

"Jesus," Ritsuko croaked.

Everything happened at once.

Hikari surged into him, squeezing his ribs so hard it hurt. Toji dropped to his sister's side, Rei beside him, as Mana collapsed from the wall in a heap, unmoving. Mari stared forward blankly, and when Shinji released her, she sagged to her knees and neither spoke no moved, and Asuka sobbed as she fell to her side, cradling Mari's head in her hands. Ritsuko limped over to him, one of her legs sparking.

"Is she…"

Shinji shrugged, slightly. "I don't know."

"I hope so," Hikari whispered. "Can you imagine being like that…"

"She deserves worse," Shinji hissed.

He reached up and lifted the helmet of his head, and handed it to Ritsuko.

"Is this…"

"Yeah," Hikari croaked. "It's his. I recognized it on the way in."

"It's a good thing you did," Ritsuko said, absently. "I can't imagine… how's the leg?"

Hikari nodded. "It hurts. That's good, right?"

Ritsuko shook her head a little. "Yeah, actually. Help me get this thing off, and I'll have a look at everybody. I _am_ a doctor."

Hikari sat down on one of the exam tables, and Shinji went to help Ritsuko with her armor. A lock twisted on her hips to unfasten the chest piece, and it lifted over her head. He used his power a bit to get the arms open, and when the legs came apart, she could just step out of it. She leaned on him for a second, and he looked away, blushing and then blushing because he was blushing. The undersuit she wore was skin tight. She limped away for a second and stood up, rubbing at her side and her neck.

"Help me," Asuka said, softly, "She's too heavy."

She was trying to move Mari. Shinji helped her, pulling the girl against his chest, and Hikari took her legs. They lifted her up onto one of the tables, and Asuka stood behind her, cradling Mari's head in her hands. Ritsuko hobbled over to them and checked her pulse.

"She's breathing, and her pulse is normal," said Ritsuko. "We need to get her to the infirmary."

Asuka stifled a little sound, and Shinji looked away. He knew better.

Ritsuko hurried to Hikari. She found a kit of surgical instruments and put Shinji, Toji, and Rei to work looking for supplies. They came back with bandages and rubbing alcohol. Ritsuko cut Hikari's pant leg away and looked at her. The wound was open, and her webbing was starting to dissolve. Toji covered his mouth and looked away as Ritsuko clipped the rest of it away and cleaned the blood. Hikari looked dizzy, and Shinji moved to steady her.

"It's already starting to heal," said Ritsuko. "You'd have been better off putting bandages on it and sleeping a few hours."

"I don't have time to sleep," Hikari said, drunkenly.

Ritsuko sighed and went about cleaning it, dabbing at it with pieces of gauze and antiseptic pads, Hikari wincing into Shinji's shoulder while she worked.

"I'm not going to stitch it. You don't need it."

Hikari nodded and closed her eyes while Ritsuko put a field dress on the cut. By the time she was done, Hikari's leg was bound up in a too-thick bandage that made her one leg look twice as thick as the other. Shinji looked at her. She was filthy, covered in bruises, her goofy Spider-Girl uniform a mess. He sat on the table next to her and she put her head on his shoulder and sighed, her eyes growing lidded.

"We need to get her something to eat," he said, absently.

"One thing at a time," said Ritsuko.

Sakura was already sitting up. Toji picked her up and lifted her onto an exam table, and she yawned.

"I think we're all out of the fight," said Ritsuko.

Sakura walked shakily towards Mari. "Let me try to help her."

Ritsuko looked at Mana, still pinned to the wall, her head lolling forward in sleep.

"What do we do with her?" said Ritsuko.

Sakura turned back. "It's not her fault."

Shinji released her, using the metal in her bones to guide her gently to the floor, moving his fingers to roll her over onto her back. He brought her wrists together and plucked a band of steel from the floor and wrapped it around them, sealing it tight. He could take it off later just as easily. Still, she didn't move.

Sakura leaned over Mari and touched her fingers to the girl's forehead. Her ears twitched, but she didn't react.

"She's sleeping," said Sakura, "she needs to wake up."

"How?" said Asuka, her jaw trembling.

"Scent," Sakura said, stepping back. "Jog her memory."

"What scent?" said Asuka, and then her eyes widened.

She lowered Mari's head to the table, and leaned over her. Shinji looked away when their lips met, a blush creeping up his neck. Asuka stood up, her hand on Mari's cheek.

She smiled in her sleep and her eyes fluttered open.

"Princess?" she said.

Shinji stood up. Hikari slumped against him, mumbling. She looked like she would pass out any second. He lowered her onto the table and onto her side and she curled up, her eyes falling closed.

"Asuka, Toji," he said, "You're with me."

Mari sat up, yawning. She moved like a cat, pressing her eyes tightly shut as she yawned. "I'm coming," she muttered. Asuka steadied her, looping their arms together.

"Where are we going?" said Toji.

"Upstairs," said Shinji. "It's not over yet."

"I have another suit," said Ritsuko.

"No," said Shinji. "We need you as a doctor now. Take care of them."

Ritsuko looked at him, and blinked.

He turned to Rei. She cowered in the corner. He moved towards her but Toji got there first, taking her by the shoulders. He pulled her into a hug, pressing her head against his shoulder, and breathed in her hair. Shinji blinked a few times.

"Stay with them," he said, guiding her to the table.

She nodded.

"Thank you," Asuka said, touching her shoulder.

Rei recoiled, shaking a little, then relaxed and nodded gently.

* * *

Misato ducked behind a stone just in time to hear the gunfire skimming off it, little chunks of rock raining down over her. Erik fell beside her, breathing hard. He looked pale and drawn, his skin waxy and his hair slick with sweat. Misato shouldered her stolen rifle and too a few shots over the rock, not really aiming, and dropped back down.

She looked at him. "You don't look good."

"I need to rest," he gasped. "I moved too far, too quickly. It takes its toll."

"I don't understand."

He peered around the rock. "I'm far from my sources of power. I am not what I once was, and the strain of keeping my alter ego at bay grows all the greater the more I tap into my… gifts."

Misato sighed.

"It's a long and complicated story. One day I'll have the time to tell it. For now-"

She heard shouting in Russian. An APC was rolling up. The gun it was swinging around wasn't the main gun on a tank, but it was heavy enough to blast them out from their little hiding spot. Misato swallowed and checked her magazine. She'd run through the other's she picked up off fallen soldiers, and was down to her last few shots, she wasn't sure how many- five or six, probably. Enough for another burst or a few more aimed shots.

"If you could do something about that APC, that'd be-"

"I don't have to," he whispered, smiling to himself.

Misato's jaw clenched as she heard a heavy metal _thunk._ The APC rocked a little, and its motor started to grind, acrid black diesel smoke pouring out the rear end of it. It rocked a little on its treads, and then slowly started to move backwards. She thought it was rolling back until she saw the channels in the mud and the frozen tracks. It wasn't moving on its own.

It lifted up, teetered, and perched on its nose, the barrel of its gun aimed at the ground, and Erik pulled her down just before the gun went off. The shell hit the ground and went off, a resounding _whump_ that she felt through her spine. It made her teeth rattle together, and more importantly it knocked the armored vehicle over on its side.

"What the hell?" said Misato.

Three figures were walking across the open floor of the Geofront, waist-deep in the grass. Shinji Ikari walked in the middle- he was wearing a school uniform jacket, open with nothing underneath it, and a helmet settled on his head that shadowed his face as he held out his hand. Asuka von Doom walked beside him, and after a moment of blinking, she recognized Toji Suzahara.

"Get _down!__" _Misato shouted, but Erik was already pulling her back.

The Russians swung their rifles around and aimed them at the three students, and a resounding chorus of sharp metallic clacks greeted them when they pulled their triggers. They stared at their guns in confusion for a moment, until they suddenly went red hot, the stocks bubbling and warping as they fell from their hands.

Toji took three steps ahead of the others, raised his foot, and brought it down.

Erik jumped and pulled her as a rolling wave of force slammed through the ground, fanning out from the impact. The knot of soldiers went down hard, the ground under them rocking and swelling, cracks spiraling out through the dirt. The rock she'd been hiding behind a moment earlier heaved up and rolled over and cracked in half with a great stony shearing sound, then settled in the dirt.

Erik pulled her to her feet and she stumbled a little, and ended up leaning against his chest. He looked a little healthier, but was breathing hard.

"Stay here," Shinji said, his voice surprisingly sharp. "We'll handle this."

Misato blinked. He was usually so… _timid_.

* * *

Ritsuko leaned against the table. The girl with the cat ears had rolled onto her side was sleeping, and she sounded just like a damned cat purring when she started to snore. Hikari was on her feet, and her color was starting to come back. She flexed her fingers. Ritsuko looked at her, hard.

"If you say anything about going outside, I'm giving you Thorazine."

"So what do we do?" said Hikari.

Sakura looked at the auburn-haired girl. Ritsuko felt a sudden urge to bust out a pack of note cards and write down everyone's name so she could keep up.

"Mana will sleep until I wake her up," the slender girl said.

"Because you're making her sleep," said Ritsuko. "With magic."

"Yup," she said.

"It's Sakura, right?" said Ritsuko. "Look, we need to get back to my labs so I can try and get a handle on what the _hell_ is going on."

The girls nodded. Rei came closer, her freaking tail wagging behind her. Rei did not have a tail the last time Ritsuko saw her. She realized she was staring at it and looked away with a little cough. Ritsuko took her by the arm and pulled her into a hug, and Rei let out a little squeak, stiffening for a moment before she relaxed. Haltingly, she put her arms around Ritsuko's waist.

"Well," said Hikari. "This is awkward."

"You're coming with us," said Ritsuko, to Rei. "We'll come back for them later."

Hikari nodded, and Sakura slipped under her arm, helping her keep her wounded leg up as they made their way out of the lab. Ritsuko called the elevator and they rode it back up to the Evangelion labs, with Hikari leaning on the wall and grimacing as it bounced to a stop. The girls followed her out as she headed into her labs.

The lab was a mess. Most of the desks were trashed, there was gunfire everywhere, and the windows to Ritsuko's office had all been smashed out during the fighting. She walked softly, broken glass crunching under her feet as she made her way into her office. She booted up the computer and snatched a phone from the cradle, touching the button for Aoba's speed dial.

"Uh, hello?" he answered, on the third ring.

"It's Akagi. Where are you?"

"We're kind of following Maya."

Ritsuko looked around. "Get back here. I need back up."

"I, uh," said Aoba. "I don't think-"

"Put her on the phone."

She heard Aoba swallow, and then voices as he held out the phone. Maya's voice was shrill, almost a shriek, and she heard screaming for a moment.

"What?" Maya snapped.

"Maya, it's me," said Ritsuko. "I need you back at the lab."

There was silence for a moment.

"Maya?"

"I'm… I'm confused. I don't know what's happening," Maya whimpered. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"Maya, listen to me," said Ritsuko. "Come back to the lab, and I'll help you, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

Aoba came back on. "She gave me the phone back. We're headed your way."

Ritsuko nodded, then said, "Good," and hung up.

"MAGI, I need feeds. Where the hell are our people?"

The monitor next to her switched over to a view of the forward base on the mountainside. Ritsuko clenched her jaw. The Nerv personnel were surrounded, and as the camera panned, she saw that the bulk of the Russians were on the mountainside, keeping them pinned down. She sighed. There was a heavy security presence during the operation, but a heavy security presence would be lightly armed compared to Summers' goon squad.

Ritsuko looked around, and then she looked at Rei. "I have an idea."

* * *

Shinji walked out onto the street and casually waved his hand, and a half-dozen rifles went flying, torn out of the hands of the men that wielded them. He barely had to look to seize the eyelets in their boots, conveniently made out of metal, and yank them off their feet, sending them sprawling across the pavement. He pulled the rifles into a pile and Asuka's hand flashed, and they folded like hot wax into a pile of slag. In a stunning display of tactics and intelligence, some of the Russians pulled out their sidearms. Shinji contemptuously wiggled his fingers, and the barrels twisted up on themselves and the pistols yanked out of their hands and went flying.

"If I were you," Mister Lawson said, "I'd be running."

"We need a car," said Miss Katsuragi.

Shinji looked at one of the staff cars, a black limo sitting a row with the others.

"What about one of those?"

Miss Katsuragi looked at him. "What about the keys?"

He snapped his fingers, and the car's engine turned over. She stared at him blankly for a moment, and he shrugged and as his shoulders moved, so did the door locks lift up and the doors fall open.

"I'm driving," she said, at once.

"Perhaps-" Mister Lawson started.

She gave him a flat look.

"I'll keep us on the road," said Shinji. "Everybody in."

The piled inside, and Miss Katsuragi backed the car out, barely missing a concrete abutment, and then jammed on the gas. The car surged forward with surprising power, and Asuka let out a little yelp and then ground her teeth, her fists clenching together. She brushed her loose hair back over her shoulders and sat primly, her arms folded across her chest.

Toji edged away from her, glancing uneasily in her direction.

Katsuragi looked at him. "Do you have to wear that helmet? It's kind of… distracting."

He didn't answer her. "That way," he said, pointing in the direction of the forward base.

* * *

Kozo Fuyutsuki paced anxiously in the trailer where he'd been confined with the others. A ring of the Russians were guarding it, and they'd been relieved of their sidearms, or at least he had. Most of the technicians were unarmed. He felt a lump in his throat when he wondered what became of the security teams. He'd heard shooting earlier, sporadic until after the sun came up. As he chanced to look out the window, he saw the guards running from their posts.

He crouched for a moment, looked back at the techs, and set his jaw. "Stay here."

The door took a little fiddling to get open, but these prefab portables weren't designed for security, and his identification card did the trick, depressing the tongue of the lock so he could step out and push it closed again. He jogged down the stairs, looking warily from side to side, but the Russians were running towards the far end of the forward position, away from the grounded Evas. He took a look back at them and winced; these men had probably come for Eva tech.

A helicopter thumped overhead and he ducked, hoping he wasn't seen. His heart leapt into his throat as it rolled to a stop in midair and made a strange grinding noise, and with a start he realized the rotors were slowing down. The chopper heaved to the side, and then with a series of piercing metallic _twangs_ the rotor blades snapped off and went spinning into space, and the body of the chopper turned and plummeted out of the sky. He ducked as it came down hard in the mud, flipping onto its side, and skidded to a stop against one of the capacitor units.

He heard more gunfire, and screaming, and the morning sky lit up like a second sunrise, and there was a heavy _whump_ and the ground beneath him shook and he stumbled a bit in the mud and leaned on a piece of equipment to stop himself falling. The portable units still rocked on their foundations, and then there was another heavy sound and the ground rolled again. He saw another helicopter spinning in, turning in the sickening sideways way that only choppers can, only for its gunfire to be met with a piercing beam that made him blink and turn away and left a purple line in his vision, like a bruise. When he looked back the chopper's tail was on fire, its rotor seized up, and the pilots were wrestling into the ground. It struck a moment later, throwing up a plume of mud, and he saw them scrambling out and running for their lives.

Against all sense, he ran towards what he took to be the fighting. He stepped out from between two of the capacitor relays and saw it.

Shinji rose up from the ground, his hands at his sides, his fingers and wrists moving like a conductor before an orchestra, and every time he moved, some great lurching mass of metal went flying or changed direction. Kyoko's girl was on fire, literally. She shimmered like a walking pool of molten gold, waves of heat and superheated plasma swirling around her like a tiny star, her hair so bright it hurt his eyes to look at it, her tresses swirling around her head like the serpentine coiffure of an ancient gorgon. A boy he didn't know walked into gunfire and it skimmed over his skin like soft rain, and when he brought down his feet, the Earth shook.

The Russians were scattering, but there were many of them. He realized that Shinji was shielding Asuka, turning gunfire away from her, but he couldn't focus on everything at once, and there were more helicopters coming in from the East, and as he looked down the mountainside, he saw armored personnel carriers rolling up and disgorging clots of soldiers. The unknown boy ran towards them and slammed into them like a bowling ball, hurling men three times his size aside with ease, until he plowed into one of the armored vehicles and tented it around him as if it were a child's model, made of plasticine, but there were so _many_.

A thump rolled through the Earth, but it wasn't the boy. Kozo blinked and shook his head, unsure of what he was seeing until his eyes confirmed it. The helicopters turned around, suddenly focused on the new, deadlier threat. They needn't have wasted their time.

Unit Zero was striding out of the city, walking with a sure stride that ignored the gunfire and rockets bursting over its skin. The primary optic was still fractured and there was damage from the botched test, but it only seemed to make the great thundering conglomeration of flesh and technology look bitterly angry as it approached with clenched fists. It walked up the mountain, feet sliding a little, digging trenches the size of commuter trains. It lifted one leg and swung it over the high road and stood over the fire base, and Rei Ayanami's soft voice was multiplied until it became a rasping thunder.

"Stop fighting. Now."

* * *

Ritsuko leaned on the desk as the techs filed in. Maya led the way, rushing through the lab, heedless of the glass crunching under her bare feet. Ritsuko barely had time to react before Maya seized her in a hug and rammed her face into Ritsuko's chest, knocking the wind out of her.

"I was _so scared,__" _she sobbed, shaking.

Hikari and Sakura stared at her, then at each other. Hikari shrugged.

Ritsuko tried to pry herself loose. "Maya," she gasped, "You're hurting me."

Maya blinked and let go of her, and danced back, folding her arms under her now ample chest, which strained at what was left of her uniform shirt and jacket, which both danced on the edge of decency. Ritsuko blinked and lifted the tattered end of her sleeve.

"Are these _bullet holes?_"

Maya nodded, meekly.

Ritsuko looked at her and swallowed. This was her fault. She must have had a mutagenic reaction to the radiation from the fusion cannon, a one in a half billion occurrence. Ritsuko wanted to say that at least she was alive, but… she looked like herself, but she was _green_, and she had scales on her arms and legs; her stomach and her throat were a paler green, and she had a _tail. _She hugged herself and looked around with big, scared golden eyes as the other technicians eyed her nervously, keeping their distance.

Swallowing, Ritsuko brought her around and grabbed a spare labcoat and closed it around her like a robe. She was taller now; they were almost of a height, and she'd packed on a fair amount of muscle, her somewhat skinny frame now proportioned more like an athlete.

"What's going to happen?" Maya whispered.

"Ma'am," said Aoba, "I have Fuyutsuki on the line. We can't raise Commander Ikari."

Ritsuko took the phone. "Sir."

"Akagi, do you know where the Commander is?"

"Yes," said Ritsuko. She turned from the others. "Sir, this is a matter of some delicacy. We may have a problem."

"I understand. The forward fire base has been secured. I'm on my way back to the base now."

Ritsuko sighed. "Yes, sir. You're assuming command." It wasn't a question.

"For the time being."

She hung up the phone, and paused for a moment. "MAGI, bring up the Mark Two."

"Where are you going?" said Maya.

"Where are _we_ going," said Ritsuko.

* * *

Gendo strained at his bonds. He could feel the webbing starting to give, now. It would only be a matter of minutes until he was free. He was down a glider and most of his equipment was trashed. He could hear Summers' voice slithering through his head still, whispering behind every tick of his mind, twisting even the most idle thought in a twisting accusation.

_Kill them, Gendo. Kill them all. _

He wormed his way into an alley and sat up against the wall and strained, flexing his chest hard. The webs started to pull apart, and he was nearly free. He stopped when he heard heavy thumping against the sidewalk and saw shadows lengthening across the ground, lit by the morning sun. With a final grunt he freed himself, snapping loose. He stood up, legs shaking, and checked his gear. His blade launcher was down and the protective filters in his mask were lost to him, but he still had the shock contacts in his other glove and the knives in his boots. He lurched out into the street, jaw clenched Summers' voice pounding in his brain

_She stole your son he abandoned you he doesn__'t love you anymore Yui is dead dead dead I'm all you need_

and stopped in his tracks.

Akagi aimed her gauntlet at him, a whining circle of light in her palm pointed at his head. The von Doom girl stood beside her, crackling spheres of flame wreathing her fists. Shinji stood on the other side, wearing an old, battered helmet, and when he flexed his fingers, the metal in Gendo's suit quivered. There was a boy with them, bare-chested and clad in tattered pants, and a girl who looked to be his twin, holding her hands in strange little signs, wreathed in light that seemed to shiver and form tiny letters as it moved, quivering with potential. Behind them stood a green woman with scales on her arms and legs and a tail, breathing hard, jaw clenched in fury, and with her a man Gendo didn't recognize; some dull, labored part of his brain put the face to one of the teachers at the Academy; along with him were a short woman built like a brick shithouse and armed with a rifle, and Rei… and the Horaki girl. Spider-Girl.

She aimed her hands at him, fingers pressed to her palms.

"Go ahead," she said, wearily. "Go for it."

* * *

_**You have been reading**_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

**Volume I: **

_**Something Sinister This Way Comes**_

* * *

Shinji sat up, and smelled something cooking. Slowly, he pulled on his bathrobe and belted it around himself. His helmet sat on his desk. He'd used his powers to work most of the dents off, and had removed the tiny horned medallion. He was thinking about refinishing it. Black would be nice; it would go with his uniform, or red.

He rubbed the passing fancy out of his eyes and crept down the stairs. Hikari was standing on her tip-toes, reaching for something in the cupboard above the stove. Failing to reach it, she hopped up without bending her legs, stuck by the ceiling by one hand, and grabbed the canister of spices before dropping down to mix it into whatever she was frying in the pan. He watched her as she worked, humming gently to herself.

She crinkled her nose, and almost looked over her shoulder. "I know you're there," she said.

He smiled softly and stepped out, and moved beside her. She had a king's breakfast going- and for good reason. She had nine people to feed. In the aftermath of the battle, neither Toji nor Hikari's homes were fit to live in, and Shinji would be by himself, so Ritsuko arranged for them to all move in together. It was a temporary arrangement, and sharing a house meant they were together constantly, but rarely alone.

Shinji took the initiative, if haltingly. He turned Hikari by the shoulder, and then froze up before he actually leaned in to kiss her, until she rolled her eyes and finished the job, pulling back just in time as Kodama walked into the kitchen, pulling Hikari's little sister by the hand.

Ritsuko had made certain arrangements, and Kodama had been brought on as a graduate assistant at the Academy, working with Miss Katsuragi. Hikari and her family needed the money. In a few minutes Shinji had joined in the cooking and lacking kisses they settled for stolen glances and almost-accidental bumps, touching their hips or their arms here or there as the room filled up and the feasting began. Rei was nervous; Shinji had never seen her in a uniform before. The black coat made her look paler, and the red of the shirt contrasted sharply with her bluish hair and brought out the color in her eyes. She glanced at Toji, until little Nozomi wormed her way out of her seat and into Rei's lap.

Rei looked at the girl with abject confusion, and was met with giggles. Hikari's father pulled the child onto his lap and looked nervously at Rei, as Toji squeezed her hand. Sakura looked at Shinji, grimly, as he sat down, and glanced at Ritsuko.

"We need to meet later," she said. "I need to talk shop with everybody."

Shinji nodded, and tried to wonder what she meant. The girl he sort of knew by reputation was gone; Sakura spent her nights chanting to herself, or sitting cross legged for hours without moving, and she was always grim. He forgot about that when Hikari nudged her heel against his calf under the table.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" said Hikari.

Ritsuko looked up from her work and nodded, more to herself. She snatched a card with a clip attached off the lab table in front of her and tossed it. Hikari caught it without looking, knowing where it would land before it went. She looked at it and saw her own name and picture, and scratched her head.

"What's this?"

"Your ID. You're my new intern."

Hikari blinked a few times. "I am?"

Ritsuko nodded absently, fiddling with some widget. "Yup. I've got a present for you. It's on the chair over there."

Hikari found a square of black fabric, wrapped up in plastic. When she tore the wrapping open a bodysuit spilled out, hanging limp in her hands. The texture was very strange, slick and sticky at the same time, and it was incredibly light. Hikari held it up by the shoulders. Emblazoned across the chest and back were the same white spider as her now trashed hoodie. The suit had a belt built into it with a few empty pouches and loops, and was thickest around the body and the upper arms and legs. The gloves and booties were amazingly thin, and there was an opening on both wrists.

"Is this…"

"Your new uniform," said Ritsuko," standing up. "I reinforced the body and legs with a weave of Kevlar, flame resist Nomex and unstable molecules. You're good against cuts and abrasions, but try not to get stabbed or shot," she fingered the material, "It's flexible and light enough to wear under your clothes most of the time, and it's breathable, so you won't get sweaty."

She had something else, a pair of heavy goggles she pulled out of her pocket. "These are wired into the MAGI network, so you can communicate directly with me and I can send you information feeds."

Hikari fingered the belt. "What's with the pouches?"

"Oh, I figured you'd need a place to carry stuff. Your lunch, keys, first aid kit, tampons…"

Hikari winced. Ritsuko snickered.

"…that sort of thing."

She turned the costume in her hands. "This is great. I can't wait to try it out."

"Don't let me stop you," she said, shrugging.

"So, this internship…"

Ritsuko sighed. "Isn't paid, if that's what you're asking, but yeah, you actually have to come in and work. Well, not really work. I want to start training in advance, if you're up to it."

"Training for what?" said Hikari.

She smirked, and adjusted her glasses "Your Evangelion."

* * *

When Maya walked into the office, Ritsuko was waiting for her. Maya felt self-conscious in her new clothes. She'd had to buy almost an entire new wardrobe, and borrow some of Ritsuko's shirts, which she kept in a bag she carried with the intent to return. While she waited for her uniforms she wore a loose skirt and a baggy blouse, or at least it looked baggy when she bought it. It seemed like anything she put on refused to do anything but stretch tightly across her newly minted chest.

It felt like everyone was staring at her, even if they weren't.

Ritsuko had started cleaning the lab. All of the old coffee cups were gone, and she was dressed simply in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt without sleeves that showed her black undersuit, and she'd replaced her glasses with a set of VR frames she'd taken to wearing to more easily interact with the computers.

A forest of tiny, holographic Evas, all in schematic form, surrounded her. She walked between them, pinching her chin in thought.

"What is all this?" said Maya.

Ritsuko glanced at her, and gestured at the larger Evas. Maya recognized the prototype, test type and production model, but they'd all been modified. Unit Zero's left arm was modified into an integrated gun of some kind, and the others were more heavily armored.

"I was looking at reworking the Evas to match their pilot's strengths," said Ritsuko. She pointed to Unit Zero. "Rei's Eva will be the long range support unit- a fast artillery pieces, basically. One and Two will be set up for close combat. Summers has some more molten Adamantium down there, and I want to use it to reinforce the armor around the plugs and cores."

"Adamantium armor?' said Maya.

"No, the sample that we have left over isn't much bigger than a basketball, but if I extrude it into some thin wires and cross hatch it, it'll add some support."

"What are these others?" said Maya. She pointed to a much larger Eva, so big it hunched forward onto his hands.

"I call that one Igor," said Ritsuko. "Bigger and heavier, it'll act like a shield for the others, keep the enemy tangled up while they pick it apart. These others are scout types- I call them the Mark series, Mark One, Mark Two, and so on. They'll be partial clones, mostly robotic with less powerful AT-Fields and weapons."

"What for?"

"Scouts, like I said. They're mostly for intel, and to provide long-range fire support. They won't be engaging the Angels directly. I've been working for modular components for the regular Units, too, folding configurations like my suits that we can switch out for different purposes."

Maya nodded. Ritsuko picked something up off the table.

"I made this for you," she said.

Maya took it. It was a silver collar, sized right for her to put around her neck, the inside padded lightly. There was a light that clicked on when she closed it, and clicked off when she opened it.

"What is it?"

"I modified the inhibitor collar technology. If you put it on, it should switch off your… ah…"

Maya nodded, and felt a prickle of tears in her eyes. "Thank you."

She looked at herself. Only one of the windows had been replaced, but the broken glass was all cleaned up. In the mirror she was herself, but taller and greener, and even under her supposedly baggy clothes she could see the swell of her chest and the graceful curves of her hips. Her shoulders had gone from bony, sloping things to high and tight knots of muscle, and her stomach was really and truly flat for the first time in her life, kind of ripped, even. She and Ritsuko had noted quickly that the more agitated she became, the more feral she became in appearance.

She looked herself in her golden eyes, and saw Ritsuko standing next to her, Ritsuko that she admired and envied, Ritsuko her only friend.

"You don't have to," Ritsuko murmured. "If you don't want to. It's just… it's my fault you were out there. If I had been there, I would have gone in your place. Hyuga wouldn't have a broken arm, and you…"

She handed the collar back. "It's okay. You can hold onto it."

* * *

Ritsuko walked into Gendo's office, and found Fuyutsuki sitting in his chair.

"You rang," said Ritsuko.

Fuyutsuki was not amused. "I just spent four hours on the vidphone with the Chairman, convincing him that Gendo was harmed in the attack, is unconscious, but will suffer no permanent debilitation and is expected to return to work in a few weeks. I sure as hell hope you know what you're doing."

Ritsuko nodded. "I have a plan, sir."

"Good," said Fuyutsuki, "because I sure as hell don't. Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost to build six more Evas?"

"It's more like two more," said Ritsuko, "Two and a half. The cloned tissue is the expensive part. We don't need that much."

Fuyutsuki sighed. "Getting our budget upped is like getting blood from a stone, and that's _before _someone starts bleeding off funds and material to build armored suits that I don't know anything about."

Ritsuko smiled softly to herself. "Well, I'm sure you'll manage. You are tenured, after all."

Fuyutsuki looked even less amused. He paled slightly. "I also spent five minutes on the line with Victor von Doom."

Ritsuko's stomach went cold, and she clenched her fists in the pocket of her labcoat.

"He's coming here," said Fuyutsuki. "He's coming to Tokyo-3."

Ritsuko swallowed. "I see. I'd best get ready, then."

"Yes, you'd best."

Ritsuko nodded. She had a stop to make. She made her way out of the administrative division and took the elevator down to the labs, but she went by way of the cages. There was all sorts of work being done- everything they could already afford to upgrade and refit the Evas was being done under the guise of repairs, and cables snaked all through the cage, and workmen were scurrying everywhere. They nodded at her as she passed, and she nodded back.

She took the gantry elevator to the top of Unit Zero's cage, and stopped it in front of the Eva's big eye, still cracked from the accident. What looked like a hairline crack from the ground was an ugly wound this high, the composite lens over the primitive optic unit open and weeping coolant into the LCL. She put her hand on the glass, and nodded to herself.

When she got back to the lab, she locked the door. She had a rare moment of peace before another storm cropped up. She took the tip to shrug out of her coat, take off her sweater, and pull the blinds down as she unzipped the back of her bodysuit. She twisted so she could see the reflection of her back in the glass.

Her artificial spine was humming along splendidly, but there were black lines running out of the socket for the solenoid, little bits of silver slithering under her skin. She looked at herself and swallowed.

Sticking unstable alien technology in her backside may not have been the best decision after all.

* * *

Toji walked with the others, and his heart was hammering in his chest. Rei walked beside him, wide eyed. To her, everything was new, and when she was overwhelmed by surprise, all her timidity melted and was replaced with wonder. It made him feel it, too, even on the crowded train. When she walked across the platform towards the school, dozens of heads turned to gape at her, boys and girls both, and Toji felt his neck tense.

"Jealous?" Sakura whispered, elbowing him.

He looked at Rei. The girls had helped her get ready, which meant cutting her hair and teaching her the basics of makeup, which Hikari said deeply confused her, so she skipped it and Toji was glad she did. She didn't need it.

Hovering over her shoulder, Toji followed her to pick up her laptop and her locker, and took her first class with her, Miss Katsuragi's math class. They all sat together in the back row, even Shinji, everybody except Asuka, who sat alone. The Makinami girl was still recovering, and the Princess was in a foul mood, more so than usual.

Unfortunately, their schedules didn't perfectly match. Rei had Lawson for the next period, and he didn't. The teacher met them at the door, and his sparkling eyes matched his grin.

"Ah, I heard we were having a new student today," he said, drolly. "Are you ready to introduce yourself to the class?"

Rei paled, visibly. Toji had talked Miss Katsuragi out of doing that.

"I'm joking," said Lawson, seeing the look on Rei's face. "Honestly."

They met up again at lunch. Rei found him and followed him through the line with the others, and they ate out on the quad, under a tree, his sister and Hikari and Shinji, and Rei. Rei ate hungrily and all out of order; she ate her desert first, then the main course, all the while holding an orange in the curled triangular tip of her tail, nibbling at it between bites.

Toji looked over her choices. "You didn't get the chicken nuggets."

"I dislike eating meat," said Rei.

"You should have gotten them," said Hikari.

"I said I-"

Hikari rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but _I _could eat them."

Rei blinked a few times. "I see."

"You're not bragging," said Hikari.

"About what?" said Rei.

"The race," said Hikari."

"What race?" said Shinji.

"The foot race in gym class," said Hikari. "Whoever wins, is done for the day."

Toji blinked. "You won?"

Rei shrugged. "The teacher never said I couldn't teleport."

* * *

Asuka sat patiently in the hospital room. She _hated _hospitals, hated the stench, the lighting, the squeak of soft shoes on the too-clean floors, and yet she waited, not really reading some school text while Mari dozed next to her. She'd awoken a few times in the first days, and was awake more each day, now. Fatigue from Summers' tearing into her mind combined with the metal bonded to her bone made her sleep and, sometimes, grumpy.

Her ears twitched, and she woke up, her eyes lazily opening, and then narrowing as she grinned her kitty grin.

"Princess," she sighed.

Asuka pulled the sheet up over her shoulder and brushed the hair out of her face, and closed her book.

Mari's head lifted up, her ears twisting like little radar dishes. "What's wrong?"

Asuka sat down.

"My father is coming," she said.

Mari nodded, frowning slightly. Her eyes were already shutting.

"Sleep," said Asuka, touching her cheek. Mari stirred in her sleep and made a soft purring sound, and dug her face into the pillow.

Fuyutsuki was waiting for her outside.

"I need to talk to you," he said.

"I'm not interested," Asuka snapped, walking away from him.

He followed, doggedly, his voice low. "He's coming here."

"Who?"

"You know who."

"You will speak of His Grace my father with the proper tone," Asuka snapped. "Need I remind you that you are ultimately his subordinate, regardless of your nominal command over me?"

He grabbed her arm, and then pulled back, hissing sharply and rubbing his palm. She calmed herself, rounding on him.

"How dare you-"

He leaned over her anyway. "His Grace your father," he said, deadly quiet, "Murdered your mother."

"How _dare_ you," she snarled, clenching her fists. Her hair started to flit about her head, and she felt the fire pounding behind her eyes. "I should roast you-"

"She was my world, once," he said, "and I threw it away. If you would just listen-"

"I would not," Asuka hissed. "You are my commanding officer and I will heed you in battle and follow decorum and military discipline. Presume to accuse my lord father of kinslaying in my presence again, and they will be cleaning you up with a dust pan."

As she walked away, the old man sagged against the wall and cupped his hand to his eyes. She saw his reflection in the windows beside her as she walked. He sagged for a moment and then his face became a mask as a nurse passed him, and he stood up and walked away.

* * *

Sakura walked into Lawson's classroom at the end of the day, and sat down in the front row. The last of the students had left for the day, and he was at his desk, grading papers. He bit into an apple, crunching it sharply as he chewed it with theatrical glee, and studiously ignored her.

"Why history?" said Sakura.

Lawson grinned, but didn't look at her. "Henry Ford said, 'all history is bunk'. It's a science of ferreting out the truly outstanding lies to build the truth from them, like appreciating a masterpiece by finding its dimly reflected image in an old mirror. It suits me."

"When I walked the Astral plane, I went to the Moon."

"Hmph," said Lawson, as if that were a perfectly normal topic of conversation between a student and teacher.

"Your performance on this quiz was abysmal," he said.

"I was busy."

"You didn't have to sleep," he said, shrugging without looking up.

"I was _busy,__"_ she repeated.

"Too busy for twentieth century history, I know. Was there something I can help you with?"

"You knew," said Sakura. About the Cele-"

"Yes," Lawson said, testily. "I'd rather not-"

"I've been studying," she said, "for my other teacher. I can see the skein of your spell, now. Very clever."

He shrugged. "Would you expect anything less?"

"They were going to kill… him, so you became someone else."

"That's right. Very clever."

"You left yourself an out, a way to use your power in an emergency, but it's dangerous."

"Also correct," said Lawson, turning to the next quiz. "Is this going somewhere?"

"I have questions," said Hikari.

"Everyone has questions," said Lawson. He took another bite of his apple. "It's sort of an eternal condition."

"You saw them," said Sakura. "You remember."

"That's right."

"Why didn't you do anything? Why didn't you warn us?"

He looked up, and she felt a little flicker of fear run up her spine.

"Who says I didn't do anything?" he smirked, but it faded quickly. "They destroyed everything that once held meaning for me. They locked the sky and trapped me here to mourn. I was a _god_. Do you realize what that means? Of course not. How could you _possibly-_"

He sighed. "You know they exist, but I've _seen_ them. They're as big as the sky. What would you have me do?"

"Teach me," said Sakura.

He snorted. "I am."

"No. Teach me _magic._"

"You already have a teacher," said Lawson, "and from what I know of him, I doubt he'd enjoy you dividing your attentions."

Sakura stood up. "He says I have to go slow, to walk before I can run."

"He's right."

She folded her arms over her chest. "I don't have time for that. I told you I walked on the Moon."

"Yes, yes," said Lawson, waving a hand. "Your folk are always so sentimental about that. It's just a rock."

"I met the Watcher."

"Ah," said Lawson. "Has he gotten himself a toupee yet?"

Sakura clenched her fists. "They're coming, _Loki. _The Sixth Host is coming."

He froze. "I see. I'll reconsider the matter."

"But-"

She looked up, and she saw the flashing after image of the golden god look up, too. "I said I'll reconsider the matter. This is not a decision to be made in haste. You don't fully understand what you're asking. Leave me, please."

"I have one more question."

"Ask quickly," he said, flatly.

"When I was on the moon, someone was watching us. My master and the Watcher felt it, too. Was that you?"

He dropped his pen. The look he gave her was answer enough, even before he shook his head.

The golden god threw his head back and laughed.

* * *

"You don't have to be here for this," said Doctor Akagi.

"I know," said Rei, "but I wish to be."

There were two viable clones, and she was bringing them out. It took Akagi a while to master the workings of Summers' machine, but the first clone was being brought into the exit tube now. Rei waited, her skin itching as she watched her mirror image's crimson eyes fluttering open. They locked on each other, and she watched the other clone's jaw drop.

Akagi caught her as the tube opened. She sucked in a sharp breath, fighting for air and expelling a great gout of LCL that bubbled on the floor as she hacked and coughed. Her knees sagged, and Akagi nearly picked her up and helped her onto the exam table. Rei moved closer, but kept her distance.

Her clone -her sister?- looked at her for a moment in utter shock, and gazed around the room. Akagi had decided not to share Rei's most recent brainwave patterns with the new clones, so she was probably wondering where Summers was.

"Hey," Akagi said, gently. "Nobody will hurt you, okay?"

The new Rei nodded, and then she jerked, sitting upright. Akagi grabbed her in time to keep her from falling off the table and Rei rushed over, helping her lie down. They held down her limbs for a moment, until Rei and Akagi jumped back at once.

The new Rei writhed and her belly lifted up as he back contorted, and she let a gasping wail and her skin _changed_. Her skin was pulling tight, flexing around her body, forcing her to draw up into an unnatural, bone creaking position, and it was changing color.

She flopped onto the table and lay still, barely breathing. Her flesh began to darken, but as it did, it took on a sheen, growing brighter and brighter, unnaturally smooth, almost like leather, and then moreso. By the time it was done, her skin was golden, so polished Rei could quite literally see her reflection in it. Akagi covered her with a blanket. When she opened her eyes and sat up, her irises had darkened as well, almost like bronze, and the blue had lever her hair- it looked like very fine steel wire.

She looked at Rei again. "Are you Rei?" she said.

Rei nodded. "I am Rei."

"I am also Rei," the new Rei said, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked at Akagi. "I don't understand."

Akagi hugged her gently, and she seemed even more confused by the gesture.

"You should have your own name," said Akagi.

"Which one am I?"

"Rei Six is-" Rei started.

"The Seventh," said Akagi. "That makes you the Seventh."

"Then I am Shichi," said Shichi.

"You're going to be alright," said Akagi. "Summers will never hurt you again. Will you help me with… Hachi?"

Shichi nodded, and Rei brought her some loose clothing to put on. Akagi had chosen things from her own wardrobe, so none of it fit. Shichi plucked at her shirt.

"What is 'Black Sabbath'?"

"I'll explain later," said Akagi.

Rei Eight had no easier time in her 'birth'. When she was done, she lay on the table, covered in a blanket. Her hair had turned bright red, and her skin was the same shade, and she had a tail, like Rei's, but longer and thicker, and she had only two fingers on each hand, wider than normal, and her feet were the same, able to grip just as easily.

"So, girls," said Akagi, "I have something to tell you. I know who you're… clones… of," she said, struggling to phrase the words.

The three of them looked at each other, and then looked at her.

"Shinji Ikari," said Ritsuko. "I think that makes him your brother."

* * *

Gendo lay in the bunk in his cell, his head to the bars, watching the wall.

Natalie sat on the bed with him, her hands resting primly on her crossed, perfect legs. She wore next to nothing today. She wasn't real, of course, but that didn't mean she would leave him alone.

"You could break out of here," she said. "You're strong."

"I don't want to," he said. "I don't want to hurt my son anymore."

"I hope not," Akagi said, padding down the block to him.

He had a wing of the detention center to himself. The Russians who hadn't fled were penned up under guard, far away. Some of the officers were kept in the complex itself, but far away from him. The way he lay, he faced away from her, but he glanced over his shoulder. She had a repulsor gauntlet on her left hand. Smart.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Myself," he lied. "I'm all alone down here." He glanced more pointedly a the gauntlet this time. "Ready to finish the job."

"No," she said. "You killed my mother," she said.

"That's right."

"The same way a knife makes a wound. You performed the action, but it wasn't you. You're still not you."

He swallowed, hard. He touched his chin. His beard was growing in; they wouldn't let him have a razor. His lip was getting hairy, and he hated that.

"Can I shave?"

"You know I can't let you do that."

"Where is my son?"

"Safe," said Akagi. "So is the girl you hurt, and your family. I asked her to keep this quiet, and she has. No one knows you're here but us."

"I see," said Gendo. "When do I get my death penalty?"

Akagi leaned on the wall next to his cell. "Why are you so eager to end it?"

"So she'll leave me alone," he whispered, hoarsely.

The image of Summers shifted, her features more alien, more serpentine, her eyes all red. She would punish him for that, he knew it.

"We're going to get you past this," he said. "You're going to forgive yourself. There's a girl in Shinji's class, a mutant, she has psychic powers. We can fix you."

"No, you can't," Gendo insisted. "You can't fix what's wrong with me."

"We-"

"I was already broken before she started manipulating me. Do you know how long it was after my wife died that I started looking at other women?"

"No," said Ritsuko.

"A year and a half. I didn't even realize it at first. One day everything was perfectly clear, and the next day I couldn't talk to your mother without staring at her legs. I began to question things. I wondered if my son needed a mother after all, if I was making a mistake. She got into my head, started twisting things. It all made sense. I began to suspect that Naoko planned it all, that she meant to take Yui's place. She was always so fond of Shinji, so ready to babysit my son.

"I remember when you came to visit. I wondered if you'd make a good sister for him. Would be like that, I wondered, a big sister? Then Summers came, and everything changed."

He could feel her tensing. The weapon in her glove whined a little.

"You're going to start treatments for the Goblin serum next week," said Ritsuko. "You're going to cooperate when I come to inoculate you, or I'm putting on my suit and a few of my friends and I are going to make sure you cooperate. Understand?"

He nodded. "It won't help. I can't be trusted."

Akagi started to turn.

"I know why," he said. "I know why Summers made me kill Naoko."

"Why?"

The image of Summers sitting on his lap leaned in his face and growled at him.

"Because it wasn't _her_ legs I was looking at."

Ritsuko froze for a moment, then snorted. "I never realized it before."

"What?"

"His jacket," said Ritsuko, locking her eyes on him. "Shinji wears his school uniform just like you do."

Gendo blinked a few times, and watched her leave.

* * *

Kaji couldn't go back to the Two Thieves, not yet. He sat on the hillside with his motorcycle, gone three days without a meal or a shave, and still he could not be still. He couldn't sleep, for fear that it would stalk him in his dreams. He flexed his hand and saw smoke whispering from between his fingers, and he still stank sharply of sulfur. The last time he'd let himself go hadn't been half this bad, and he'd gotten himself under control in a few hours.

He could still remember it all, like being a passenger in his own head. The world roaring past, freezing cold, everywhere around him a thundering chorus of screams. He knew their names and when he looked into their eyes he saw everything, and so did they, and that was the end. He stood up and looked at the setting sun.

Phone calls and emails. He'd be in touch, keep his eye on things and wait for someone at Nerv to make contact. Gendo was gone, it might be best to just leave. There was no profit here, and yet… that _creature_ was putting the moves on Misato.

He'd left her behind once, when he realized how much danger she was in, from him. He hoped the rest of his crew of scavengers had made lives for themselves- he hadn't seen any of them since they were freed from the work camp, since he bought their lives with a bit of his blood touched to a contract taken by a man in black.

Rising unsteadily to his feet, he looked to the West. The sun was sinking, and it was strongest at night, pulling at him, whispering and demanding by turns, his will crashing against it when he least expected. He swung his leg over the bike and started south, away from the city, and tried not to look back.

It didn't work.

* * *

It was so simple, really.

Kensuke bought the kit and was disappointed at first. The little six-legged robot he was to build was basically a toy- the "programming" the box touted amounted to teaching it to walk in a straight line or in circles, to respond to its light and sound sensors and scurry into darkness, like a bug. He sighed when he looked at it, and was tempted to just throw it away. His father was annoyed at his insistence on buying _toys_, and looking at the little plastic thing, he understood.

Yet in the night, in dreams, he understood. The idea came to him all at once, and he awoke at four in the morning, and began.

He took apart his old computer first- he needed the parts. Some were obvious, others less so. He made the legs first, a larger and more complex version of the plastic, single-jointed legs included in the kit. Half asleep and half in a dream he made them until there were six, part metal and part plastic, cobbled together from the original kit and whatever was to hand.

The body came next. Before he would have gone to bed he would have been terrified of _taking apart_ a motherboard, and yet it was second nature to him now. The parts seemed to sing, invisible webs of silvery thread connecting each one, telling him where and how to connect this and that until his dream grew, piece by piece, bit by bit.

Eventually, he had to go school, and he went, and when he came home, he resumed, ignoring his homework, ignoring work, ignoring food. His father paid him no mind, not even bothering to mutter to himself about Kensuke's future, and that pleased him. He needed the peace, because the silvery threads would not leave him alone until they were all together.

When it was done there was a robot sitting on his desk, a six legged contraption the size of a dinner plate wired up to his computer. He hadn't slept and had to be to school in two hours, but the code was almost done. The lines came to him in a dream, each one building on the next, so simple, so elegant, and then it was done, the program loaded. He popped the cable out of the robot's body and waited.

It rose up on its legs, and swiveled what used to be part of a webcam to look at him, and raised one tiny mechanical arm in salute.

* * *

No one stared at Kaworu anymore, now that Rei was in school. She liked that. After Miss Katsuragi yelled at her about her hair, she cropped it short, and was surprised to find that Rei's hair was like hers, only a little longer, and a little bluer. She stalked the halls between classes, peering at the new girl behind the door of her locker. School made sense to her now. It was orderly, regular, tidy. She liked it. She liked these people.

It took three days to get Rei alone. She tapped her on the shoulder in the hall, between classes, when most of the students were in the rooms. It was a risk, being late, because that would be untidy and displease her father.

Rei turned to her. "Yes?"

"Are you like me?" Kaworu said, excitedly.

"I do not know," said Rei, turning to leave. Kaworu took her sleeve.

"Can we be friends?" said Kaworu. "Please? I'd like to have a friend."

"I see," said Rei. "I would also like to have a friend."

Kaworu's heart lifted. It would be oh so wonderful to have a friend.

"Good," said Kaworu. "We can be friends later."

Rei nodded in agreement, and went on her way.

Kaworu turned to head towards class, and stopped. Shinji and Hikari were in the hallway. She liked Hikari. Hikari was almost like a friend, but Kaworu didn't know what to do or say around her, and felt that she should not follow Hikari from place to place as she had the day she came to the school and Katsuragi yelled at her because of her hair and the girls made fun of her for not knowing why she was bleeding.

She especially disliked looking at her with Shinji. She disliked seeing them both together, without knowing why. She enjoyed seeing them apart, because Hikari was good and kind, and Shinji…

Shinji was _beautiful_.

"Hey," a voice said, "Are you okay?"

She turned around. A boy was talking to her! He had glasses and marks on his face, but he was a boy and no boy ever talked to her.

"I'm fine," said Kaworu.

"Oh, you looked lost."

"I know where I am. Thank you."

He looked sad.

"I'm not being mean," said Kaworu.

"Oh," said the boy. "Oh, um," his face turned red. "I'm Kensuke, by the way."

"Hello, Kensuke, I'm Kaworu."

"Get to class!" Katsuragi roared, poking her head out of her classroom.

Kaworu scurried away, glancing over her shoulder at Kensuke.

He seemed to enjoy looking at her back for some reason.

* * *

Ritsuko nodded and the faceplate of the Mark IV armor dropped down over her face, and she started down the rim of the crater. Her overlay showed low levels of radiation coming off the object buried in the Geofront floor. Nothing harmful, but she wasn't going to take any chances after what happened with Maya, whose voice chimed in her ear.

"How are we doing?"

"I'm making my way down the crater now," she said, looking up.

The hole the object had blown in the foundations of the city was still visible. Somehow, it managed to punch through the armor layers with tremendous force, without doing all that much damage. Repairs were underway, but it would take time. She steeled herself as he armored boots slid in the muck a little, and found her way to the bottom.

"Moving in," she said, glancing at the rad levels. All was normal, so far.

She stopped and ran a scan- a combination of radar, sonar, and a few exotic sensory modes she'd reverse engineered from Stark's old suit, the one she brought back from Russia the hard way. She was closer to building a real Iron Man suit- at his zenith, Tony Stark had been far more than a man wearing a metal suit; the most advanced Iron Man armors could go toe to toe with almost anyone, and fit in a suitcase. She had a ways to go yet, but she was working on it.

"It's not very big," said Ritsuko, looking at the profile of the scanned object superimposed over the bottom of the crater. "Looks like a big box with something sticking out the side, maybe an antenna."

She clomped over to the buried object, crouched, and ran another scan and checked her radiation levels, just to be sure.

"Everything looks safe so far," she said. "Got anything for me?"

"No," said Maya, "we're not showing anything weird up here. We're go."

"Okay," Ritsuko said, mostly to herself. "Ready with the thrusters in case there's a problem."

"Yes, ma'am," the computerized voice of the MAGI replied.

She started to dig in the mud. With a soft metallic clang and a scrape, her armored fingers touched something, and she felt a little jolt. Her levels jumped.

"Huh," she said, "I'm reading a power fluctuation here."

She smeared the mud out of the way, gradually exposing a rectangular block with a cylinder sticking from the side. She worked it away until it was covered in a thin layer of mud, then grasped the boxy part with both hands.

Her armored groaned a little, but it refused to move. She stopped, glancing at her overlays; she'd burned one of the servos pretty bad.

"Huh," she said. "It must be really heavy. I guess that makes sense."

"It doesn't match any known satellite configurations," said Maya.

"No," said Ritsuko, "no, it doesn't."

She cleared the mud away with a gentle brush of her repulsors, barely half a percent output, until it was mostly clean. The cylinder wasn't an antenna. It was long enough to grip two handed, but close, and was wrapped in thick leather and braided silver cord, with a strop of leather, like a lanyard, at the end.

"What the hell?" said Ritsuko.

"What is that?" said Maya.

Another fine pulse cleared the mud from the head. Ritsuko's breath caught, and she turned slowly.

"Maya, are you getting this?"

"Yeah," said Maya.

Ritsuko read from the inscription on the block head of the hammer. Her voice shook as she read the words.

"Whosoever holds this hammer…"

* * *

**The Age of Marvels will return in on June 28th with****… **

**Volume II: ****"DAYS OF DOOM"**

_To be followed by the exciting future volumes__… _

"**EMPEROR SHINJI"**

"**THE FUTURE OF DAYS PAST"**

"**GODS OF WAR"**

"**THE LAST BATTLE"**

* * *

He took a breath, two three, and realized when his lungs were aflame that there was no air to breathe. No, that was incorrect; there was insufficient oxygen. His condition was most curious. He was no longer in the dark, either. There was a light, flickering, as a cigar was lit. That it was lit in the absence of oxygen was most curious. He looked at the light at the tip of the cigar growing as the man who smoked it drew in the vapors, and considered.

"Hello, Johann."

"I'm alive," the Red Skull rasped.

"Quite the opposite," said the stranger. "Took you long enough."

That would explain why he was unable to move. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to make a deal, of course."

"And you are?"

The stranger stood up and took a long drag on his cigar, and tapped the ashes on the Red Skull's forehead.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste."

"What?"

"Forgive me," he sighed. "That album came out in '68. You were sort of out of the loop. I have so many names, but between the two of us, Mephisto will do."


	14. Girl's Night Out, Part 1

**THE STORY SO FAR**

_What was once two become one. In ancient times, two worlds merged, and the lost gods of space became the first ancestors who seeded the universe with life in a grand, sweeping experiment beyond the ken of men. _

_On one such world, they left behind two of their seeds- two opposites, two equals, two who must not be one, and along with them a set of instructions- secret scrolls containing forbidden knowledge, abandoned on Earth. Long ago, a sect of mystics uncovered this relic and began the work of deciphering it. Their work ended in a bloody Roman assault. Only one member survived, and secreted the wisdom of his order in the deep desert. _

_Centuries later, a shepherd stumbled on the cave during the greatest conflict humanity had ever known. In his mad quest for arcane power, the leader of the Third Reich was convinced to dispatch a man named Lorenz Kihl to investigate and recover the ancient wisdom, in hopes of winning the war. _

_As with most of these projects, all was for naught, at least until the end of the war. After the Nazis fell, the Red Skull sought out and found Kihl, and forcibly recruited him into his nascent network of spies, superpowered criminals and assassins, planning to use alien technology to subvert the new world order, to work in the shadows of proxy wars and black ops and secure real power independent of the constantly shifting ideological and political landscape of the latter half of the twentieth century. _

_It was not to be. _

_The Red Skull went too far in abusing Kihl, the man with the keys to the kingdom. When his beloved wife Madalena left this world, Kihl used the contacts he__'d established at the Red Skull's request to overthrow him and lock him in a steel casket, to slowly suffocate until his superhuman physique went into hibernation, never to return. _

_As heroes and villains warred in the foreground, Kihl worked in the background, building up an international cabal of villains- industrialists like Norman Osborn and science-mages like Victor von Doom, all working independently on various parts of a grand, secret project that promised to uplift humanity and free mankind from suffering, disease, and death- so long as mankind could pay for it. _

_The true scope of Kihl__'s plans only became clear when he excavated a massive alien structure beneath Japan while simultaneously seeking out alien ruins in the Savage Land, deep in the interior of Antarctica. Something went wrong -or right- and after a desperate battle between the conspiracy, the international fraternities of lesser criminals, and the vigilante networks such as the Avengers and X-Men, long since driven underground after vigilantism was harshly outlawed, a massive explosion destroyed most of the continent, raised sea levels worldwide, and devastated the Americas. _

_In the new power structure, the far East and Europe reigned supreme. Prepared for the devastation, Victor von Doom quickly picked up the pieces and swept into power, using the established international governing bodies of the continent to forge an ironclad dictatorship with himself as king in all but name, while Kihl ruled the Eastern half of the world directly through the United Nations. America, formerly the bastion of world economic and military power, became a lawless wasteland ruled by roving gangs, mutants and mutates, and rogue artificial intelligences. _

_With one final, ringing stroke, the conspiracy ended the age of heroes forever, and darkness fell on the world. _

_And then along came a spider. _

_In Tokyo-3, the hub of the conspiracy, Hikari Horaki was bitten by a genetically engineered spider at a science fair, and overnight developed a superhuman physique, senses, and agility mirroring the Spider-Man of old, with new gifts all her own. In nearby Russia Ritsuko Akagi was captured by a militant group and rekindled the power of the Invincible Iron Man to secure her escape. The children of the Second Impact began to develop powers far beyond their parents, beginning with a core group of children in Tokyo-3. _

_All of this was foreseen and manipulated by a certain Natalie Summers- in reality the genetically engineered scientist Nathaniel Essex, called Mister Sinister, having abandoned his original body to take over that of a clone- his genetic daughter, whom he effectively murdered to steal her form. Using vast telepathic and shape shifting powers, Essex manipulated Nerv to further his own goal of creating a super-mutant from the bloodlines of Kyoko Soryu and Shinji Ikari, for some unknown end. _

_Along with their mysterious ally, Erik Lawson, the Norse god Loki in disguise, Hikari, Ritsuko and the others managed to defeat Summers, but not without cost. Mari Makinami was subjected to a cruel experiment that bonded the metal adamantium to her bones, and Summers left the shattered pieces of lives in her wake. Gendo Ikari was driven insane by her psychic torture, and confined in Nerv__'s brig in secret, while Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki lead in his name, and Summers' henchman Mana Kirishima was left a wreck, a girl without a name or history to call her own, only vague hints of parents lost in nuclear fire. _

_In the end, they were all changed- shy Maya Ibuki gained terrifying power when exposed to a burst of gamma radiation, while the clone pilot Rei Ayanami__'s sisters experienced new and intense mutations, becoming a seemingly invulnerable metallic girl and a red-skinned demon. Now empowered, Ritsuko immediately began restructuring Nerv and working to make the Evas more combat effective…_

…_because while the world believes otherwise, the Evas sorely lost their last engagement, and the world was saved only by the mysterious and timely intervention of an ancient weapon that can't exist, the fist of the heavens come down from legend. The hammer of Thor. Mjolnir. _

_The worst is yet to come- Doctor Doom is coming to investigate the problems at Nerv. _

* * *

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

**Volume II: The Days of Doom**

* * *

"**GIRL'S NIGHT OUT"**

_**Part One**_

* * *

Ritsuko wore her armor when she went into Summers' lab.

In the three weeks since Mister Sinister was rooted out of his stronghold in the Nerv complex and imprisoned by Shinji, she'd already disarmed several traps, some of which it took Hikari's danger-sense to discover. What she assumed was the main lab was only a superficial part of what amounted to a fortress built inside the base, all in secret. Between her powers and superhuman strength, Summers-Essex had been busy digging into the strange, porous black rock of the Geofront's foundations- and discovering samples of the material in one of the labs, geared for geological work, was one of the things that spurred her curiosity.

Today she wore a lighter variant- with every modification and redesign, she was approaching the lean simplicity and raw power of Tony Stark's suits, the ones that were destroyed along with their schematics and technology when he retired from vigilantism, almost forty years earlier. The suit she wore today was decked in black primer, as she was still testing it, and light enough to be worn under her lab coat, the helm folded up over her upper back like a hood so she could see what she was doing directly. Maya, Hikari, and Sakura were all with her; Maya as muscle, Hikari to ferret out the various traps and Sakura for reasons of her own. She went on and on about sensing something of great importance in the lab, whatever that meant.

Ritsuko was still a little skeptical about the whole _magic_ thing, but she'd seen Sakura in action. Owed her life to her, really.

Then, there was Misato's boyfriend. She saw the tapes herself. Mutants could do amazing thing, but the man was no mutant. She felt a tremble in her stomach whenever she saw him, and it intensified when he dropped sly hints about his tricks the day of the battle being a mere fraction of his capability. She felt outgunned, even in her suit.

Maya ducked through one of the heavy bulkheads. "We found something. You should see this."

Ritsuko put down the mineral sample and headed through the corridor with Maya, glancing at her. When she was calm, she was mostly herself, but… greener, and, well, more _endowed_. She'd taken to borrowing Ritsuko's clothes, but only the most conservative outfits she had, and even those barely fit her now. When she got angry, she started to grow scales and claws and lost control of herself, raging, laughing and weeping by turns. Ritsuko sighed. It wasn't the danger she posed; Ritsuko knew Maya would never hurt her. It was the other way around. Ritsuko hurt Maya, just by not being what the other woman wanted her to be. She scrubbed her hand through her hair and winced as the now longer, chestnut strands snagged on the joints of her gauntlet. Sometimes, she forgot she was wearing it.

"What is it?"

Sakura looked up. She was in a small chamber, meant to be sealed off from the rest of the corridors by a heavy bulkhead, absurdly wearing a pair of reading glasses. In her hand was a small, aged leather bound volume, one of a set that lined the shelves over the plain desk where she sat.

"They're a journal," said Sakura, running her fingers over the spines.

"Essex' journal?" said Ritsuko.

Hikari was sitting on the wall- she had a funny way of perching on flat surfaces like that, kind of sitting on her own heels. It looked uncomfortable to Ritsuko, but half of what she did looked uncomfortable- besides the strength and agility and sense of danger, her mutation made her joints so elastic she was capable of awe inspiring feats of contortion without the slightest effort. She yawned and scratched her head.

"No," said Hikari. "Somebody else. They're old, though."

"There's no name," said Sakura, closing her eyes. She held the book closed around her finger to mark her place and ran her finger down the spine, visibly concentrating, her jaw set.

"I see a woman," said Sakura, "though she herself cannot see. Beside her I see a woman in white, adorned by skulls. Faces surround her, men and women, but though they are different they are all alike. I see a raven on her shoulder, and blood on her hands, and two shadows before her, a devil with a halo and an angel in white, staring mournfully at her gloved hands."

"What are you doing?" said Ritsuko.

"Psychometry," said Sakura, opening the book. "I can tell something about an object's owner by the psychic imprint they leave. The imprint on these is _powerful._ I think the woman who wrote them was precognitive."

"She could see the future?" said Maya.

"One possible future," said Hikari.

Ritsuko glanced at her.

She shrugged. "Terminator 2."

Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "What do they say?"

Sakura shot the tiniest, most imperceptible glance at Maya, who looked away, and then began to read, her voice trembling as she forced it to stay even.

"I saw a soiled knight upon a white stallion with seven heads. A lance was in his hand, and it was stained with blood and water," she read, "and I saw him tilting at a knight of a crooked cross, clad in iron. Fire burned in his eyes, and hell followed with him. I saw a god in a horned helm leading a host of the slain. Serpents rose from the earth, and it was a time for wolves. I saw the gods of the heavens who locked the sky. I saw fire and death. I saw blood and thunder. In the midst I saw a boy who is like God, who died and lived again as the womb of the world, where all men must go. There were giants in the sky and giants in the Earth, and the king of the monsters held his court in the ashes of the gods."

"Um," said Ritsuko. "Okay, then. That doesn't sound good."

Sakura stuck a sliver of paper in the book. "With your permission, I'd like to read them."

"As long as you can keep up with our homework," said Ritsuko. "Your father will string me up if you fail calculus."

Sakura blew her hair out of her eyes. "I'm learning magic from the Sorcerer Supreme. I don't have _time_ for calculus."

With a groan, she slipped the volume back in with the others. Ritsuko folded her arms over her chest and sighed. "Is this what you were looking for?"

"No," said Sakura, "but it's close. Follow me."

Ritsuko stepped back, and Hikari dropped down from the wall. Sakura closed her eyes and hummed quietly to herself as she walked through the corridor. She raised her hand, and Ritsuko realized she was holding her breath. Maya and Hikari looked at each other. Finally, Sakura stopped at a bulkhead.

"This one. Open it."

Ritsuko took her toolkit from her belt and knelt in front of the panel next to the door. She could open them fairly quickly now, but waited for Hikari to nod.

"There's something dangerous in there, but it's not the door."

The heavy door slid open, clanging loudly when it stopped. The chamber inside was cold, and Ritsuko let out a breath. More relics. She went first, ready to close her helmet if she was attacked. Hikari followed, looking around, until her eyes locked on something set against the wall. There was a columnar containment chamber of some kind, and little waves of fog slipped off of it, signaling cold. Ritsuko leaned closer to it, and saw through the window in the front there was a glass container inside, a canister half filled with black sludge.

"That's it," said Hikari, looking at it. "That stuff is dangerous, whatever it is."

Sakura was brushing past them both. Hikari turned around and looked at something under a glass dome- there was a necklace or amulet resting on a red pillow, heavy links of gold with a gem in the center. Ritsuko moved to lift the glass, until Sakura stopped her.

"Don't touch that. I don't know what it does."

"What do you mean?"

"There's magic in it."

Ritsuko nodded, shuddering. _Magic_. Hearing someone talk about such a thing seriously made her feel all squirmy for some reason, and her back twinged painfully. Sakura pressed on, until she stopped at the end of the alcove. There was a door set in the wall, with a simple switch to open it. The girl flipped it, and the panel slid upwards, gradually revealing the contents.

Ritsuko's breath caught. It was _her_.

Natalie Summers stared back at her, and Ritsuko raised her repulsor and aimed it at the frosted glass.

"It must be a spare body," she growled. "Get out of the way."

"No!" Sakura protested, throwing herself against the glass. "She's not a _spare._"

Ritsuko didn't lower the gauntlet. "What do you mean?"

"Look at her," said Sakura.

Ritsuko lowered her gauntlet and looked at the girl behind the frosty glass, with her milk pale skin and jet black hair. As she looked closer she realized something was off. The form behind the frost was more delicate, and for lack of a better word, smaller. She looked… young. The resemblance to the _thing_ that had tormented them all was mostly superficial. Without heavy makeup and styled hair the creature in the cryo chamber had a kind of unearthly delicateness to her, with her ice pale lips and lidded eyes.

"Is that?"

"She made herself another body," said Sakura. "A backup if her current one was too badly damaged."

"What should we do with it?" said Maya.

"Give it back to its owner," said Sakura.

Before Ritsuko could stop her, the slender girl tapped her hand to her chest and drew something out of her own body, a red orb that shimmered and flickered in the low light of the specimen lab, and pushed it right through the glass. It leapt into the frozen girl, like spark between them, and she started to thrash in the chamber. Sakura tripped the door and she spilled out in a sudden wave of frost, gasping and shivering, and drew up into a tight ball, pale and naked and quaking with terror.

It was Hikari that moved first, gathering the quaking, pale waif up in her arms. They were of an age, Ritsuko realized.

"Where am I?" the girl whispered, her voice thin and reedy. "Where's Elliot?"

* * *

"Are you going?"

Kaworu blinked. She stood in the hallway, holding the straps of her backpack in her slender fingers, staring at the poster stuck to the concrete block wall between the rows of lockers. She looked over and saw Kensuke standing next to her, blinking behind his oversized glasses. He coughed and pushed them up his nose, and scuffed his foot against the floor. Kaworu turned back to the poster, advertising a _dance_.

"I didn't think they had this sort of dance here," said Kaworu.

"It was Mister Lawson's idea," said Kensuke. "That's what I heard."

She heard a soft chittering sound, and a thin mechanical arm reached out of Kensuke's backpack and touched him on the shoulder. Kaworu jumped in surprise, blinking a he stuffed it back inside and closed the zipper.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," he said, innocently. "So are you going?"

"I don't know. No one has asked me."

Kensuke swallowed, as if he was suddenly quite thirsty. He looked her up and down, turned a shade redder, and coughed into his hand. "I guess I am."

"Oh," said Kaworu.

She folded her arms under her chest and hugged herself. "I suppose I could go with you."

Kensuke lit up, standing to his full height. "Really?"

Kaworu nodded.

"You're in the dorms, right?"

She nodded again.

"Great! I'll pick you up!"

Visibly shaking with excitement, he bounced on his feet and rushed off, his backpack undulating as whatever was inside crawled around. Kaworu stared after him for a moment and drummed her fingers on the poster paper, thinking. It would seem she needed a dress, but Father hadn't seen fit to provide any.

She saw Hikari at her locker and hurried over to her, clutching her books to her chest. Hikari smiled at her.

"Hey, Kaworu. I've got to get to class."

"I need your help," she said, quickly. "I need a dress."

Hikari blinked. "Oh. Uh, um…"

"Where do I get one?"

"You don't _know?__"_

Kaworu shook her head. "I've never worn one before."

Hikari looked at her, slightly amused. "As it so happens, I need one too. Why don't you come to the mall with us tonight?"

"Us?" said Kaworu.

"I'm going shopping with Toji's sister and my, uh, boss."

"So you're going? To the dance."

She nodded. "With Shinji."

Kaworu's stomach did a little loop at the mention of his name. If Hikari noticed, she said nothing, but glanced up at the digital clock on the ceiling. "We need to get to class."

Kaworu nodded and turned, touching her hand to her chest to feel her heart pounding. She hurried along behind Hikari, and was the last to rush into Miss Katsuragi's class.

"Finally got your hair cut," the older woman said, sighing. "You could at least brush it. You're very.. Fluffy."

* * *

Hikari yawned as she walked into the gymnasium, despite the chill of the air making her arms and legs prickle with goose pimples. The other girls were all lining up, and Hikari dropped in place, Kaworu taking up the spot next to her. Hikari leaned forward a bit and spied the other end of the line, where the triplets stood together. Rei was at the far end, her tail wagging back and forth as she shifted on her feet. Next to her were her identical _sisters_ Shichi and Hachi, also known as the Gold One and the Red One. None of them bothered to hide their mutations, not that they could. There were a lot of rumors flying around about what they could do- all Hikari knew was that Shichi's golden skin was as hard as the metal that it appeared to be, and Hachi was _weird_. At first she'd expected them to all be the same, but she'd been disabused by that notion already today.

"Wind sprints," the instructor yelled. "You know the drill. First one on the finish line is done for the-"

There was a heavy _bamf_ and a stink of sulfur on the air, and Rei and Hachi were standing on the finish line.

The instructor blinked. "That doesn't count. No powers, ladies."

With a soft sigh, Rei grabbed Hachi by the hand and pulled her back to the line. Mari was out today, _again_, and so Hikari had this sewed up. She pitched forward and steeled herself, muscles coiling. When the whistle sounded she bolted, pulling out ahead of the others with a manic grin on her face. It was unfair, but it was _fun_.

Still, she slowed. It was irresponsible to cheat every single day, so she slowed enough for Asuka to catch up with her, followed by Shichi, the gold triplet. Hikari could feel the other girl's footfalls on the ground. Rei came up behind them, and then the others. When they reached the finish line they were all panting, leaning on their knees except for Hikari. Asuka stood up and chuffed out a breath, putting her hands on her back to stretch.

"You made it, von Doom," the coach yelled. "Hit the showers."

Asuka smirked at her and strutted off, while Hikari led the trotted back to the starting line. She grabbed Kaworu and pulled her along to the sisters. The three Reis stared at her.

"Look," she said, very quietly. "You're going to beat her, and I'm going to help."

Kaworu nodded vigorously, her floofy hair bouncing. She'd cut her silvery locks to shoulder length, which only made them lift up and float around her head. Hikari was afraid to touch her for fear of getting a static shock. The others all looked at each other, and Hikari shuddered, wondering if they could read one another's minds.

"Don't worry about anybody else," said Hikari. "Just keep up with me."

The four girls nodded, and Hikari set herself, and started running. They strained to keep pace with her, and she went a little faster. This sort of exercise was mostly a waste of time- Hikari seemed to get stronger and faster all the time without even trying, and while he appetite had faded a little, she was still ravenously hungry, even now, and looking forward to lunch.

After the third round, Kaworu and Rei and her sisters were all finished, and sitting on the benches by the sidelines as the other girls finished up. Hikari looked at them, wonderingly. Kaworu had a certain funny resemblance to Rei- their facial structures were different, but something about their hair and milk pale skin and red eyes was unnervingly similar. Rei's new sisters looked like her, except that one was apparently made out of metal and the other was bright red in hair and skin both, matching her eyes. Shichi's skin was even a little reflective, like mirrored sunglasses. Her hair was like a kind of soft wire, the color of beaten copper, matching her irises. When she rested her hands on the bench, it made a soft metallic clinking sound. Hachi itched behind her ears and yawned, her sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight.

"So," said Hikari.

They didn't answer her.

"Anybody going to the dance? Besides Kaworu, I mean."

"Toji asked me," Rei said, quietly. "I am not sure."

"What's a dance?" said Hachi.

Hikari leaned into her palms and groaned.

* * *

Mana wanted to get up, but they wouldn't let her. She was cuffed to the hospital bed by heavy leather straps, themselves held down by thick chains. She could have cut them, but she was held down so tightly she couldn't reach with her claws. Her ankles were bound the same. The woman that wore the armor was walking into her room, and turned on the soft light by the bed, leaving the fluorescent lights on the ceiling off.

"Hi," she said.

Mana eyed her, sniffing. She could smell oil and alcohol, and fatigue. She hadn't slept in a while, and was visibly weary when she sat down next to the bed. Mana said nothing.

"I wanted to see how you're doing. Is there anything we can do for you?"

"You can let me out," said Mana.

"You know we can't do that yet. We need to make sure you're safe."

"I want to go home."

The woman scrubbed her fingers through her short hair and sighed. "I know that, but you've been sick for a long time. Summers was hurting you, and you're safe now."

"If I'm safe, why am I chained up?"

The woman thought hard about that. "You could hurt people. We have to be sure you can control yourself."

Mana fell back into the bed, and closed her eyes.

"Leave me alone."

Sighing, the woman got up, and clicked out the light.

* * *

Ritsuko leaned on the counter and sighed deeply. She hadn't been home, or back to the house, anyway, in almost thirty-six hours. She caught a fitful few hours of sleep in her office chair that did little more than make her groggy and make her back scream at her. She locked the door and turned to the windows that looked out over the technicians, hitting the switch to drop the shutters from the outside. When she was sure no one could see her, she stripped off her lab coat and twisted as best she could, hitching up the back of her shirt.

Ugly black bruises streaked with fine silver threads ran the length of her spinal implants, and radiated out from the socket where the super solenoid powered them, and provided the power for her suit. Gingerly, she twisted to take a small sample, scraping away some of the tender tissue even as he back screamed in protest. Once she had it she dropped it into a petri dish and lowered herself into her seat, wincing, and poured a glass of whiskey from the bottle in her desk. After she down it and winced, she leaned forward and sighed, hard.

The door opened, and Maya came in. Ritsuko jerked to pull her shirt back down, but she was to slow. Maya stared openly at her, fingers twitching.

"It's nothing," said Ritsuko.

"No it isn't," Maya said, moving closer to her. "What is that?"

Ritsuko's voice cracked. "I don't know. It started a few weeks ago, after Sinister, and its' getting worse. It hurts, Maya."

Her vision blurred, and she wiped away the tears.

"You have to get that thing out of your back."

Ritsuko sat up. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"You know why. Doom is coming _here._ I have to be ready."

Maya sighed, and moved to the desk. "You wanted a progress report on the retrofits," she said, sliding the folder across the top of the desk.

Ritsuko nodded and took it, started flipping through it.

"You're been drinking," said Maya.

"One drink," said Ritsuko.

"Since when?"

"Since just now," Ritsuko snapped. "You're not my mother."

Maya scowled, and Ritsuko felt a little flutter in her stomach.

"Don't look at me like that," Maya said, her voice quavering.

Ritsuko dropped the folder on the desk, moving slowly, like she would with a dangerous animal in the room. "I'm not looking at you like anything, Maya. Calm down."

"_I am calm!__"_ Maya shouted, leaning over her. "I… you're killing yourself."

"No, I'm not," said Ritsuko, turning back to the report.

"Yes, you are. That thing in your back-"

"I can't be without it, Maya," said Ritsuko, flatly. "I have to be able to walk, to use my suits. I can't give that up. I already lost…"

"Lost what?" said Maya.

Ritsuko swallowed. "I had some tests done. I just got the lab report back. My injuries…"

Maya stared, her big eyes watering.

Ritsuko looked away. "I can't have children. Ever. The paralysis doesn't matter, the damage is done."

"Oh," Maya said, very quietly. "I'm so sorry."

"I never planned on it anyway. The Evas are enough of a pain in the ass. What about the new tissue samples?"

"The smaller ones are a few weeks out, but the bigger ones are going to take six months at the soonest."

Ritsuko slammed her fist on the table, sending a jolt up her arm. That wasn't fast enough. Three Evas wasn't enough, given how dangerous the angels were proving to be. The last one nearly destroyed two of the three operational units, and Nerv was keeping it a closely guarded secret that the Evas weren't the deciding factor in that battle at all.

There it was. Ritsuko clenched her teeth when she thought about the _object_, as they were calling it. She had a new facility being built around it right now, to house and conceal it, since they couldn't move it. Everything she'd tried had proved useless- her armor, a freaking crane, even Unit Zero, none of them could budge the hammer from that spot. She refused to believe that it was what the inscription on the side said it was. Sakura she could accept, but not that.

Leaning forward, she scrubbed her hands through her hair. It was growing longer now, and she really was starting to think about dying it again. She snorted, realizing how silly that was.

"I went to see the Kirishima girl," said Ritsuko. "That's not her real name, of course. I can't find anything on her, which makes sense- assuming Sakura's vision is accurate and her parents died in the Tokyo blast, there won't be any. She's down there caged like an animal, and I have no idea what to do with her. Then there's… Natalie," said Ritsuko.

Maya nodded. "We can't send her to school. Does she…"

"Yes," said Ritsuko. "Telekinesis, telepathy, shape shifting, she can do it all, just like her… father. I have her in a hospital room now, but there's nothing stopping her getting up and walking out. I wish Sakura had said something to me before letting her out. That girl, I swear…"

Maya sat down, and leaned on the back of her chair. It creaked a little and she looked down, eyes flicking away, and sat up. "You should go home, and get some rest. I can keep an eye on things for a while."

"And when did _you _sleep last?"

Maya blushed. At least, Ritsuko thought it was a blush. She got a little greener.

"I don't think I have to sleep anymore."

"You _suck,__" _said Ritsuko.

Maya snorted, smiling for the first time in a while. Ritsuko looked at her, sighing. Other than the whole turning green thing, she wasn't that bad off. With a sigh, she got up and shrugged back into her lab coat, tucking her shirt down around her waist where it belonged. Maya slid into her spot, taking up the arduous task of overseeing the work on the Evas, and gave her a weak wave.

When she pulled up at the house, Hikari's sister was already there, puttering around in the kitchen. She yawned as she passed by.

"Hey," said Kodama.

"Off from work?"

"Yeah. It's… not what I expected. Miss Katsuragi is… unique."

Ritsuko laughed quietly to herself. "Yeah, you could say that again."

"You know her?"

Ritsuko fished around the refrigerator and came up with a can of instant coffee and a sandwich in a plastic bag. She gnawed at the soggy bread between gulps of bitter coffee, swaying on her feet.

"You know her?"

Ritsuko nodded. "We roomed together in college, believe it or not."

"That must have been fun," Kodama mused, sipping coffee as she spread open a book on the expansive table in the Ikari's kitchen.

"I'm taking a nap," Ritsuko yawned, "Wake me if the apocalypse comes."

"Will do," said Kodama. "My sister should be home soon."

* * *

Gendo leaned against the back of his cell, scrubbing his fingers over the light stubble of his chin. A nurse came in and shaved him under supervision twice a week; he still wasn't allowed any toiletries or sundries, not even a pen or a toothbrush. He quickly sickened of the television, and so ended up lying on the bed with his head to the glass, idly wishing he had a bouncy ball to thump off the wall and pass the time. It would have helped immensely, especially since the ghost of Natalie Summers refused to leave him alone.

He knew, _knew_ that she wasn't there, but as she coiled up, serpentine and seductive, on his stomach and ran her fingers over his chest, she felt real enough, and smelled real to boot. She was dressed in only the black underthings she favored, standing out starkly against her chalk white skin, and she smelled faintly of rosemary and summer flowers, but with something off beneath it, like a hint of formaldehyde. She leaned on him, resting her chin on her folded hands, and stared into his eyes.

"Go away," he whispered.

"I can't, love," she murmured, "I'm stuck with you until you get me back to my body."

"I won't help you. You tried to kill my son."

"Kill is a strong word," she purred, hitching her legs up his side. "I just wanted to make him more obedient."

"You tried to seduce him."

She laughed, high and light, mocking him. "You kept saying he could use it. Man him up a little."

"I didn't say that."

She leaned over him, very close, grinning. "You were _thinking _it."

He sat up, abruptly, screaming "_Leave me alone!__"_

She shrugged. She was seated now on the floor, across the width of the narrow cell from him, in her lab coat and skirt, her hair drawn up in a thick black ponytail, her reading glasses perched on the tip of her exquisite nose.

"You're mean, Gendo. We had such _fun_ together."

He wanted to throttle her, but he knew it was no good. "I tried to kill myself because of you."

She snorted, and blew her phantom hair out of her eyes. "You men are always so dramatic."

"You're a man!"

"I _was_," she said, spreading open her lab coat. "This is _so _much more fun. It's all about the nerve endings, dear."

He realized he was breathing hard, and rolled over on the bed. Of course she was already there, facing him. She draped her arm over him and threw a long pale leg over his hip, and whispered in his ear.

"I was telling you the truth," she said, her voice cracking, "You're the only man I've ever loved, my darling. You can _save_ me. You couldn't save Yui, but you can save me."

"You're not real," Gendo pleaded, clutching the sides of his head. "Leave me _alone.__"_

She laughed at him, and laughed, and laughed. "You'll give in eventually. You think they beat me, but it's just a temporary setback, my love. I almost have everything I need to stop them and save us all, but only if you help me."

His eyes opened. "What do you mean, stop them?"

"The gods," she whispered, slipping her hand under his shirt. "The _real _gods. They're coming for us, to pass judgment. Without me, you're all lost."

He pressed his eyes shut. He couldn't listen to her, didn't dare. It always made sense at first, but then she'd be whispering something insane in his ear and he'd _believe_ it. She made him believe Naoko killed Yui, made him believe his son was conspiring against him. He couldn't listen. He kept his eyes tightly shut, and that only made it worse. No matter how he turned she was there, pressed against his skin, her fever hot flesh slick with sweat.

"Let me tell you about the Celestials," she whispered.

* * *

Asuka paced, and paced, and paced.

Ever since Sinister, she had been nearly frantic. Mari was still in bed, sleeping peacefully. She curled on her side and drew her lithe form up into a ball, nipping at her own thumbs in her sleep, her ears twitching. No bandages or treatment were needed, but her body was still adjusting to carrying the weight and dealing with addition of the metal to her skeleton. It made her tired and irritable, and her healing factor would take longer to adjust than normal. It made her sleep a great deal.

She opened her eyes, and Asuka rushed to the beside immediately.

"Hi, Princess," Mari yawned, her jaw working.

Asuka resisted the urge to join her, swallowing the yawn as it flowered in her throat. The effort made her eyes water and she shook her head vigorously. She ran her fingers through Mari's hair, feeling its softness and the frizzy way it gathered static electricity. She made her hand just a little warmer as she cupped Mari's chin, sat on the bed, and leaned down to kiss her.

"Good morning, my love," Asuka whispered, brushing a stray lock of brown hair back from Mari's face. Annoyingly, she had no proper ear to tuck it behind, but the cat ears on her head.

"You should sleep in," said Mari, yawning again. She scanned Asuka's uniform and sighed.

Asuka rolled her eyes. "It's four o'clock in the afternoon."

Mari sat up, groggily, clutching the sides of her head and blinking. Asuka leaned against her, resting her chin on the other girl's shoulder, and held her around the waist.

"Mmm," Mari purred, leaning back into her. "You're upset about something."

"How do you know?"

Mari smirked. "I can smell it. I know your scents better now."

Asuka's cheeks heated -literally- and she sat up, sniffing. "Yes, I…"

"Spill it," said Mari.

Asuka folded her arms around herself, trying to look regal but hugging herself instead. "Someone accused my father of murdering my mother."

Mari blinked a few times, big eyes watery, and then they narrowed. "Who?"

"It doesn't matter," said Asuka.

"If it didn't, you wouldn't be upset about it."

Asuka shrugged and slumped a bit, defeated. She pulled the locket out from under her uniform, and clicked it open. Tucked inside was a single lock of red-gold hair, a shade lighter than her own. She looked at it for a moment, clicked the locket closed, and tucked it back in place, so it was pressed against her heart.

"I don't like thinking about her."

"Why?"

"I can't… I try to remember," Asuka said, her voice flat and even, "her face, her voice, but I just see a blur with hair like mine. My father is strong, my father is wise, my father is powerful, but…"

"But what?" said Mari.

Asuka looked at her. "We almost died. It… I feel… He never smiled at me, or held me. Even Shinji's oaf of a father did that for him, and I saw the Horaki girl with her family, after. I've never had anything like that."

Mari leaned closer. "What am I, chopped liver?"

Asuka stared at her. "I'm not sure if that would be an insult to you or not."

Mari snorted. "Cats are supposed to like fish, silly."

Without warning, Mari was on her, pressing her back into the bed. She was even heavier now and they sank into the mattress, Mari's much larger frame overwhelming Asuka as she pinned her wrists to the bed and nuzzled her lips against Asuka's throat. Feeling Mari's heart hammering so close to her own made her soften, just a little, and she drew in a long, relaxing breath. Mari shifted, resting some of her weight on the bed, and tucked her arms around Asuka.

"So," she said. "Are we going to the dance?"

"Obviously," said Asuka.

"I mean… together."

"Openly," said Asuka.

She was quiet after that, Mari confirming by way of her silence. The sound of their breathing was heavy in the room, and Mari was already dozing off again. Asuka would have kicked the blinds open, but sunlight on her only made her even sleepier. She twined her fingers through Mari's hair without quite realizing it, twisting the thick locks between her fingers. Eventually she found the soft cups of her ears, and the touch of them made Mari purr and hitch her legs around Asuka, making sure she couldn't get away before Mari's newfound itch was scratched. Asuka obliged her.

After the longest time she said, "Yes. Openly."

Mari sat up. "Then we need to go _shopping.__"_

* * *

Hikari whooped with joy as she careened between buildings, hurling her legs out in front of her to get a little more altitude as she fired the next line, watched it slap against the corner of a roof overhead, and played out just a little extra web to get a nice, deep, _fast_ swing through the bottom of the next arc. Sakura, clinging to her back, was screaming her lungs out.

"We're going to die!" Sakura shrieked, "We're going to die!"

"We're not going to die." Hikari shouted back.

"Yes we are!"

Hikari laughed and ignored her, reveling in the freedom of swinging from rooftop to rooftop, the air whipping through her hair. It wasn't far now, only a few more blocks until they'd drop down and take the rest of the way on foot, with no high buildings to swing from. Her new suit was vastly more comfortable than the one she'd put together herself, even if it _was_ a little clingy. No one was going to mistake her for a boy now.

"Can we stop?" Sakura shouted in her ear. "I'm going to throw up."

"If you throw up, I'll drop you."

"Nevermind!"

A laugh bubbled out of Hikari's lips, but at last it was time to return to earth, and she dropped carefully, using a line to slow her descent. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Sakura danced away from her, wobbling on her feet, leaned on a wall, and puked loudly, her retching sounding painful. Hikari fought the urge to laugh, and rubbed her friend's back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah?" Sakura coughed, "I didn't need that food."

"You asked to go for a ride," said Hikari. "Shinji never pukes."

"Shinji only does it so he can touch your butt."

"He touches it all the time anyway. I need my clothes."

Sakura had all their stuff in their backpack. Hikari didn't bother with the shirt, just hopped into her uniform pants and buttoned up her jacket over the top of her suit, the little fangs of the white spider poking out around her collar. The suit was incredible- besides the abrasion and piercing resistance, it wicked moisture away from her skin and compressed her muscles. She almost felt naked with it next to her skin, and now that she was starting to calm down, she began to shiver.

Fishing a block of cheese out of her pack, Sakura handed it over, and Hikari scarfed it down in three quick bites, swallowing loudly.

"That's disgusting," said Sakura, frowning.

"Cheese is a very convenient source of protein," Hikari burped, "Come on, it's time for dinner."

Now that she was properly dressed, they walked the rest of the way up to the house, flashing their identification cards as the guards waiting outside. Ritsuko hand-picked them all, but it was important to keep up appearances. The foyer of the house was empty, but Hikari heard the pleasant sounds of occupation wafting about. Ritsuko was obviously abed, as it sounded like someone was strangling a chainsaw-pig hybrid in her bedroom. Hikari peeled off from Sakura and headed upstairs, and knocked on Shinji's door.

There was no answer, but it was open. She gave it a little nudge, and he looked up from polishing his helmet.

Hikari snorted a little laugh.

"What?" said Shinji.

He'd smoothed out the dents in the surface, and he'd removed the faded lavender and dark purple paint, making the whole thing a matte gray. He must have put some kind of overcoating on it, as the rag he was using brought it to a mirror shine, and she could see her face distorted in it from across the room. The house rules meant she had to open the door a bit more as she padded across the room, shedding her jacket as she went.

Shinji blinked, visibly tearing his eyes away from her chest, and her cheeks heated as she sat down next to him.

"If you keep playing with that, I'm going to get jealous."

"It saved our lives," said Shinji, resting the helmet on his nightstand.

"_You_ saved our lives," said Hikari, leaning closer to him. She brushed her lips along the curve of his jaw and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek, all she could get away with, given the constant threat of Kodama or, God forbid, Ritsuko walking in on them.

After they moved into the house, Ritsuko started to explain how to use what she termed a "love glove" until Kodama snarled at her. Hikari shuddered at the memory.

"Hey," said Shinji, nudging the helmet on the nightstand with his finger, "Um, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?" Hikari leaned forward.

"Did you see those posters, about the umm, the dance…"

"Yeah," said Hikari, guardedly.

"Do you want to go with me?"

Hikari snorted. "Duh, I'm your girlfriend. Of course I'm going with you."

"I still wanted to ask."

That earned him another kiss on the cheek, followed by Hikari pushing him down onto the bed by the shoulders and lowering herself onto him, until all he could see was her. That lasted about thirty seconds, until there was a knock at the door and Hikari jumped back, nearly hitting the ceiling before she landed in a crouch on the floor.

"What are you doing?" said Kodama, leaning on the doorframe.

"Talking," said Hikari. "Just talking. Dinner plans, the weather, politics, world peace, that kind of thing."

Kodama arched an eyebrow. "Right. Dinner is served, get down to the kitchens."

She was waiting when Hikari came out of Shinji's room. "You're not fooling around with him in there, are you?"

"Nope, not in there," said Hikari.

"I'm serious."

"I know you're serious."

"You can't get pregnant."

"I'm not going to get pregnant. What am I, Ritsuko?"

"I heard that," Ritsuko moaned, stumbling out of her room. "Somebody say dinner?"

Hikari and Kodama both stared at her. She was adorned in a loud ensemble of pajamas and robes, with mismatched socks and a Megadeth band shirt that was at least two sizes too small, and she plucked at the hem when she saw them staring.

"Back off, I'm a scientist."

By the time they made it down to the kitchen, it was packed. Kodama was there, as were Toji, Rei, and Rei's sisters. Sakura sat away from the table on a stool with a book propped on her lap, one leg swinging under her. Toji and Hikari's fathers were both working night shift, which left the boys abandoned in a raging sea of estrogen. Shinji sat next to Toji and would have turned back to back with him if he could.

"Is everybody ready for our special bonding trip?" said Ritsuko, fixing a plate from the veritable buffet Kodama had set up.

"What bonding trip?"

"We are going shopping," said Rei.

Hikari blinked at that.

"I'm skipping it," said Sakura. "I have reading to do."

"Come on, sis," said Toji.

"No boys allowed," said Kodama, and they both let out long sighs.

"Still," said Toji, "You're going to the dance, right?"

"I'd have to go stag," said Sakura. I don't feel like it. Shichi and Hachi and I are going to stay home and watch The Notebook."

"Oh," said Shinji, and then more softly, "Oh, God."

Ritsuko leaned down between the boys. "Learn to pretend to like it. It will serve you well."

Hikari rolled her eyes.

"I'm chaperoning," said Kodama.

Hikari paled at that. "Oh, uh."

"I somehow got talked into that, too," said Ritsuko. "I've decided to take a more active role in the administration of the school."

"_You?_" said Hikari.

Ritsuko sighed. "Yeah, as if I don't have enough to do. Good thing I have an intern."

Hikari glared at her, and ate sullenly.

"I'd better not catch you slipping booze into the punch," said Kodama.

"If I slip booze anywhere, it'll be into me," said Ritsuko. "Besides, I run this town, I can do what I want."

The meal went on, until Ritsuko ducked out to answer her phone, and then back. "Okay, the car is here."

"What car?" said Hikari.

"It's a surprise. Let's get ready!"

A shower later, after waiting in line of course, Hikari was headed out of the house, to find an immense, block monstrosity sitting on six over-sized wheels parked in front of the driveway, blocking in the usual Nerv staff car. Ritsuko brushed past her and took the key from a scared looking security man, who scurried away as soon as she was in range of the vehicle. Hikari took a slow walk around it, looking at the machine gun turret mounted on top.

"Why are we going to the mall in a tank?"

"It's not a tank," said Ritsuko. "It's an armored personnel carrier. There's a difference."

* * *

As soon as she was finally free of… everybody, Sakura shut herself up in her room with the journal. She was sure she was reading it right, but what she read scared her more and more every time she went over the lines, until her finger was trembling. She pulled her lip under her teeth and took a sharp breath.

_I saw the beast_, the journal read_, and the sun rose in the south and was bent, and denied the moon. The beast had a skull of blood and a crown of ashes, and marked on his brow was the sign of the beast. The light had gone from the world, and in the darkness the beast tore down the walls of a high tower, until his hands were bloodied but not broken. When the tower was taken the beast seized the book of death and the book of life, and the gate and the key to the gate. From the rubble he strode forth on air and a third eye opened on his head, and I saw hell within it. _

She tapped her pen on her notepad. She had a feeling -more than a feeling- that the beast was the same thing as the "knight of the crooked cross" she read about earlier, and the books and the gate and key were some kind of artifact. She drummed her fingers on the desk, and read on.

_With the eye the beast saw all places high and low, near and distant, past and future. What was, what is, what will be, what could be, all were one in the great eye which was of the beast. With the light in his eye he pierced the light of the soul, and laid bare what lay within. No spear could touch him, and he feared neither noose nor fire. Red and black flames walked at his sides, and together they marched in the well of souls, and laid low the hammer bearer and the broken giants. _

She sat back from the book and took a drink of water, sighing. Her head was pounding, and the more she touched the book the more she could _see_ what was written, as if she were looking through a window in the pages. She ran her hand lightly over it, not quite touching the aged paper. She could feel the psychometric field much more strongly now, as if the book were reacting to her presence. She had to know more, so she leaned forward, not drawing too close this time, and focused her mind with a simple breathing technique.

_The beast found the burden of the well and took her to life, and behold I saw a great red dragon and a woman clothed in the sun, and the beast devoured the woman and took the key and opened the gate, and before him I saw green fields and ancient sands. I saw the end of time and the beginning, as the beast opened the way and after him followed the hosts of hell, and there was no barrier to him. All who stood before him fell, be they they the shining champion of the sun or the boy heavy with the wisdom of a thousand days. The tree of wisdom broken, and the cosmic champion slain, and there was darkness forever._

"Well," she said aloud, "That doesn't sound good."

"No, it doesn't."

She turned, and jumped at the sudden appearance of Stephen Strange's shade in her bedroom.

"If you watch me sleep, I'm calling the police."

"This is no time for jokes, child. The time has come to reveal higher mysteries."

Sakura sighed, and looked at the wizened figure of the old man.

"Were I still among the quick, I would impart the implements of the Sorcerer Supreme to you directly, but that is no longer possible."

"Why?"

His ghostly form moved and sat on her bed. "When the tidal wave from Second Impact hit my home, I had a choice. I could allow it to wash over my Sanctum Sanctorum, or I could expend every ounce of my power to ensure it survived the onslaught. In truth, my choice was no choice at all- my Sanctum is a fortress made of will, a prison and a guardian for powers that could destroy the Earth is fully unleashed."

Sakura nodded. "Your astral form survived."

"Yes, but without a body I have no means of influencing the world of the living. I chose to allow myself to be trapped in between, to find and guide my replacement. I have taught you much over these last weeks, but I fear the time has come for you to prove yourself."

"How?"

He sighed, a strange gesture from a dead man. "You must prove yourself worthy. You must travel to the Sanctum Sanctorum, and breach the spells yourself. There you will find a lifetime's worth of research and collected artifacts. You must destroy them all, save four."

"What four?" said Sakura.

"The most important is an amulet, the Eye of Agamotto. It is _tremendously_ powerful, moreso than you realize. The others are books- the Book of the Vishanti and the Darkhold. Were an enemy to possess both, it would be enough to cover the world in darkness. The fourth is the Siege Perilous, a gateway that allows access to other dimensions, other worlds."

"I understand," said Sakura.

"I don't think you do. The journey will be a great danger, one you cannot face alone. The Sanctum is out of phase with normal reality, but can only be accessed from Greenwich Village."

"You mean New York," said Sakura. "As in, America. How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"You will find a way, child. I know what it is I ask of you- to cross a wasteland of monsters and anarchy. You will find a way."

Sakura nodded.

"I will," she said.

* * *

Hikari held onto the seat in front of her with white knuckles as Ritsuko cackled like a madwoman, sharply turning the wheel of the armored personnel carrier. The big tires shrieked on the road, leaving thick trails of smoking rubber on the pavement, and she immediately punched down on the accelerator, pulling up into the parking garage adjacent to the newly reopened mall. She looked around, and saw that Kodama looked a little green.

They'd stopped to pick up Kaworu, who was clinging to the seat in front of her, pressing her eyes tightly shut, and praying in German. Rei, seated next to her, seemed completely calm. Then again, Rei could teleport to safety if Ritsuko rammed the APC through a wall and crashed it into the ground from fifty feet up.

"I love this," Ritsuko chortled, jamming on the brake as the lumbering beast skidded into three parking spaces. She turned around.

"Okay. Gas, grass, or ass. Nobody rides for free."

"Ritsuko!" Kodama shouted, turning bright pink.

"Calm down," said Ritsuko. "Everybody out. Let's do this."

Hikari was very, very glad to put her feet on solid pavement as she dismounted from the angular black vehicle, the others piling out behind her. Kaworu raced to the railing in front of it and dry-heaved, clutching at her stomach. Hikari took her arm-in-arm and led her to follow the others.

"Thank you for bringing me with you," she said, as shyly as ever.

Hikari decided to distract her from the terror of the ride. "Has somebody asked you?"

"Kensuke," said Kaworu.

Hikari nodded, slowly. Kensuke "I Love Boobs" Aida sniffing after the willowy Kaworu wasn't the weirdest thing she'd ever heard, by far. Kaworu was kind of strange- her newly cut hair was in a dandelion-esque floof around her head and she was tall and perilously skinny, but she was one of the better looking girls in school, once one looked past her oddities. Hikari hated that the others were so mean to her, ready to treat her like an outsider because she was a little different.

"I've never bought a dress before," said Kaworu. "I hope I brought enough money."

"How much do you have?"

Kaworu lifted up her purse and opened it, displaying the contents. Inside was a telephone, a… feminine hygiene device, and enough money to buy Luxembourg. Hikari stared openly.

"Where did you _get _that?"

Ritsuko, who'd been chatting quietly with Kodama -probably to talk her out of suing over the APC thing- glanced back, and even her eyes widened.

"My father wires me an allowance," said Kaworu. "I haven't been spending it."

Hikari's jaw worked soundlessly. "Oh. Okay. Yes, you have enough for the dress, and the shoes, and the hair."

"She needs makeup," said Ritsuko, "You too, Rei. You're both so… plain. You need some _style._"

"What is makeup?" the albinos said, in unison.

"Great," said Kodama. "Where did you find these girls again?"

"It's complicated," said Ritsuko.

"I'm from Germany," said Kaworu.

Hikari didn't feel the least bit enlightened.

They piled into the elevator together, and Ritsuko hit the button. An awkward half minute later, they stepped out onto the mall's main level atrium, and Hikari breathed in the crisp, refined scent of unlimbered capitalism, already spying their first stops. Her budget was just a tad more modest, but she knew her target better. All she had to do was wear a gown that revealed her arms and shoulders and Shinji would be a puddle on the floor. Her real goal was keeping Ritsuko from dressing Rei and Kaworu up like streetwalkers.

"Come on," said Ritsuko, leading the charge. "I need to wear something professional for this. I'm representing authority and adulthood."

She turned to Kodama. "Are sequins professional?"

Kodama didn't have chance to answer. With a heavy _thump_, the lights cut off and the too-bright emergency lights came on, and the sound of the shoppers screaming filled the high-ceilinged space. Hikari immediately jumped up and balanced herself on top of the glass partition that surrounded the atrium, clutching it with her hands and feet. She had a vague sense of danger from the floors below, and from above. She closed her eyes, and listened.

When she opened them again, a rather hairy eight-legged specimen lowered herself in front of Hikari's face, dangling on a thin, almost invisible strand of web. Kaworu saw the spider and yelped, while Hikari focused on it, her gaze meeting the tiny button eyes arranged on the spider's head.

"What can you tell me?" she whispered, focusing the thought at the same time.

The spider didn't think in words, or really think at all. What she saw were a succession of images, some of them from other spiders crawling around the mall- there turned out to be a _lot _of them, particularly in the hot dog place on the third floor, which bothered her for some reason. The mall was in darkness, and there were shapes moving on the first floor, herding people away from the walls and exits. Two of them took up residence in front of each of the doors, long and lithe and sinister. Hikari saw visions of snakes and lizards, and boots. Boots always meant danger.

"I hate this mall," Hikari sighed.

She turned from the spider and dropped to the floor, pulling her hair into a loose ponytail. "We've got company. I don't know what-"

Her neck pulsed and she jumped just in time to avoid something leaping at her. She cartwheeled out of the way as Rei vanished in a flash of acrid smoke and Ritsuko pulled Kodama behind her, shoving her hand in her purse and drawing back a repulsor gauntlet that click-clacked into place around her wrist.

The attacker skidded to a stop on the linoleum, drawing up two thin little curls of floor wax from wicked, knife-like claws. Hikari froze.

There was a dinosaur in the mall.

"Uh," said Hikari.

It screeched and leapt at her, and in the back of her mind she put a name to the turkey-sized little monster, _velociraptor._

As it passed through the space she just recently occupied, claws out, she was already out of the way. She jumped and hit the ceiling, planted her feet on the tiles, and fired twin strands of web from either hand, stopping the creature short before it bounded up into Ritsuko's shocked face. She pulled twisted, and slammed the thing into the wall, where it fell and went still.

To her surprise, its rubbery skin burst open, weeping oil and sparking. Ritsuko moved closer as Hikari dismounted, dropping down beside her. A ceiling tile slid open and Rei's blue-coifed head appeared from her refuge in the ceiling.

"It's a robot," said Ritsuko, crouching. "A robot dinosaur. What the hell-"

Every television set in the mall flicked on at once, and Hikari stood up, gaping open-mouthed at what she saw. On the screen was… a fishbowl. There appeared to be someone wearing it as a helmet.

"Attention shoppers!" a booming voice rang out, "This mall now belongs to Lady Mysterio! Cooperate with my techno-beasts, and you shall not be harmed!"

Hikari groaned.

"Shouldn't it be Mysteria?" said Ritsuko.

Everyone looked at her.

"What?"


	15. Girl's Night Out, Part 2

**_Sorry about the delay, everybody. Between the holiday and some computer issues, I couldn't get this last week. Updates should continue more or less weekly, but my schedule now is such that I cant' say for sure- See my profile for word of any delays. _**

_Previously On_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_As they continued to explore Mister Sinister__'s hidden archives, Ritsuko, Sakura, and Hikari came across a collection of bound journals belonging to a powerful precognitive mutant. Sakura began studying the material and what she found shocked her- poetic predictions of destruction, death and suffering yet to come. Entranced, she took the journals home and read on, until her mentor, _Doctor Strange_, appeared and charged her with the great test she must pass to take up the mantle of Sorceress Supreme- travel to the post-apocalyptic ruins of North America, to the Sanctum Sanctorum, and recover artifacts of arcane power- before a powerful evil beats her to it. _

_Meanwhile, at the school (at Ritsuko__'s secret urging) a dance was planned, which meant a shopping trip! With Kaworu in tow, our heroes went out for a relaxing night of girly bonding, shopping, trying on of dresses and doing of hair, leaving the boys and the distraught Sakura at home with Rei's clone sisters. _

_Unfortunately, someone else had plans- just as the group arrived at the mall, the found it taken hostage by the self-proclaimed Lady Mysterio!_

* * *

"**GIRL'S NIGHT OUT"**

_**Part Two**_

* * *

Asuka coiled her hair behind her head and tied it into a loose ponytail as she walked into the shopping mall, Mari at her side. They both ignored the stares as the other patrons noticed Mari's ears and pointedly looked away from them, which only made them twitch harder, Asuka noted. She was glad for the effect. It seemed to keep anyone from noticing they were holding hands. Mari gave her a little tug, as if she meant to stop, but Asuka squeezed harder and glared at the first person to notice, a chubby salaryman who slunk away immediately. With a deep breath, she led the way inside.

"Ordinarily I would have one of father's dressmakers at my disposal," said Asuka.

Mari sighed. "The third floor. Come on."

Mari took the lead then, drawing her towards an elevator in the shape of a half cylinder of clear glass that rose over the open atrium. Asuka fought to still her fidgeting as the elevator sank down to meet the doors, then stepped inside, finally breaking Mari's grasp as she turned around and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her academy sweatshirt. Something was bothering her, but she couldn't say what. Mari leaned back next to her, swishing her long heir with a little snap of her neck and arching her back.

"What are you doing?"

"We've drawn a crowd," said Mari, nodding over her shoulder.

Asuka pivoted at the waist and glanced down over her shoulder. A cluster of boys, and some who were too old to be called boys, were watching the elevator rise. Asuka pressed her lips into a thin sneer and stepped away from the glass, but Mari cocked her hip to the side and blew them a kiss as the doors opened and they stepped out onto the third floor.

"Pigs," Asuka snorted.

Mari elbowed her. "Oh, relax, will you? It doesn't hurt to look. I would think you'd be used to a few stares by now."

"I don't care if they look at _me,__"_ Asuka snapped, pressing her lips into a pout.

Mari snickered, and waggled her backside as she walked. "Oh, please. We're going dancing in public tomorrow and you're worried about _that_."

Asuka turned her chin up and strode forward. "What should we do first?"

"Get the dresses, duh," said Mari, looping her arm through Asuka's. "It's right up ahead."

Asuka walked with her to the dressmaker's shop. There were several girls from the school already there, some of them from the upper classes. The younger students shied away from them but Asuka brushed past them proudly, and Mari was tall enough to pass for one of them anyway. Asuka walked up to the dowdy, plump woman with a measuring tape hanging about her neck at the counter.

"You," Asuka commanded, "Sell me a dress."

Mari coughed.

"She needs one, too."

Mari coughed again.

Asuka blew out an exasperated breath. "Please."

The woman smiled at them anyway. "Someone will be right with you, dears. We're quite busy."

"I-" Asuka started, but Mari rested her hand on her shoulder and she closed her mouth.

"Relax, Princess," said Mari. "We have all night. Want to get something to eat while we wait?"

Asuka was about to say something when she spied a splash of red towards the front of the store. She moved towards it, elbowing her way through the crowd of girls, thinking _stupid hens_ as she moved. As she saw the dress she became more and more entranced, until she was standing in front of it, awed. Mari pulled up next to her and folded her arms across her chest.

"What?" said Mari.

Asuka shivered, stopping herself from saying _I__'ve never worn a dress before_ and tamping the thought down, hard. She had worn girl's clothes when she was a toddler, but as soon as she was old enough to begin training she started wearing a military uniform, unadorned at first, and gradually rising in rank and decoration as she progressed through officer's school and completed her university courses.

She didn't know why she was so entranced by the dress in front of her, but she took a slow walk around it. It was made of shining silk, and through it would hang to her ankles and cover her to her throat, there was nothing modest about it. A halter top connected to a choker at the neck, but that and some straps that tied around the back were all that held it up. The back of the mannequin was bare, with criss-crosses of red ribbon that held the bodice of the dress tight to the chest. Asuka imagined herself in it, feeling an imaginary wind prickling her back and arms as she crossed a dance floor.

"You like it," said Mari.

"I like it," Asuka said, quietly.

"Red," said Mari, sighing. "I should have known."

Asuka folded her arms. "I like it," she said, more sternly.

"I like this one," said Mari.

Asuka turned and rolled her eyes. Mari waggled the loose sleeve of a dress that looked like it belonged on a streetwalker- covered in pink and white sequins, it resembled nothing more than a tube that would cover her to her armpits and stop just above her knees.

"I'm getting it," she announced.

Then, with a loud thump, the lights went out.

Asuka tensed. The hens became frightened hens, tittering at each other. Mari spread her feet and bent at the knees, and her pupils widened from narrow slits to wide dark pools as she adjusted to the darkness. Asuka lifted her finger and brought some heat to the tip, enough to produce a soft glow so she could see.

Mari looked at her and smirked.

"What?"

"Phone home," said Mari, in a croaking voice.

"Shut up," Asuka grumbled.

* * *

Hikari perched on the glass railing and looked over the edge. More of the robots were milling around the ground floor, moving in tight, obviously artificial patterns around the exits and entrances. A thin layer of mist clung to the floor, and shapes moved within it. She breathed in and out and felt more of them moving at distance, covering the stairwells. She looked over her shoulder at Ritsuko.

"This sucks," Kodama noted.

Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "Okay, first things first. Rei, can you get Kodama and…"

"Kaworu," said Kaworu.

"…back to the tank?"

Rei nodded and took both their hands in hers, gripping tightly.

"When you get there, call me on my cell. I'll tell you what to do."

Rei nodded, and the three of them vanished in a flash, a heavy _whump_, and a haze of rotten egg smell. Ritsuko blinked a few times and swept her hand back and forth in front of her face, fanning away the odor. Then, she looked at Hikari.

"Armor?" said Hikari.

"I just tried my watch. My signal is being jammed."

"Great," said Hikari. "Any ideas?"

"You looked like you know something when she said 'Lady Mysterio'."

Hikari nodded. "A petty supercriminal from New York, from the sixties. Tangled with Spider-Man a few times."

"What's his… her… whatever, what does it do?"

"The original was a special effects technician. He lost his job, so he did up a costume and started the villain thing. At first he used special effects stuff, robots and holograms, to make it look like he had magic powers. After he was exposed as a fraud he kept up the shtick. Lots of illusions."

"Illusions," said Ritsuko, moving towards the broken down robot that Hikari had kicked into the wall.

She knelt beside it, and pulled the head off, nudging at it with the palms of her hands until it popped free, and peeled back the skin. It came loose in a rubbery sheath, revealing a rather un-dinosaurlike mechanical form underneath that looked more like a claw than a head. She pulled more of the skin back.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for a CPU or something… here, I found it."

Hikari dropped next to her in a crouch. Ritsuko lifted a disk of black metal that was wired into some computer gear in the guts of the robot, tugging at the wire. When she found where it went, she pulled a small tool kit out of her purse.

"You carry tools in your purse," said Hikari.

"Screwdrivers, capacitor pullers, pliers, and tampons," said Ritsuko. "I'm an engineer."

"Stop saying 'tampons'," said Hikari.

Ritsuko snickered but focused on her work. Soon she'd pulled the whole works out. It looked partly smashed, at least to Hikari, but Ritsuko was satisfied. She gathered the bits up and stuffed her toolkit back in her purse.

"What's that?"

"The brains of the thing. More important, there's an antenna. This computer doesn't look like it could drive a very sophisticated AI. They're probably remotely controlled from a central location," she said, chewing her lip in thought.

"Can you trace the signal, maybe?"

"I was just thinking that," said Ritsuko. "Is there an electronics store in this place?"

"Yeah," said Hikari, "but it's on the next floor."

"Great. Let's go," she said, sticking some kind of bead in her ear. Then, she tapped her watch. "Can you hear me?"

Kodama's voice came out in a high squeak. "Oh shit!"

"Relax," said Ritsuko. "None of the guns are loaded. I think. Just don't touch any buttons until I tell you. I need you to call in my armor."

"How?" said Kodama.

"Give us a minute, and I'll tell you," said Ritsuko. She looked at Hikari. "Let's go."

Hikari nodded, and led the way. It felt more natural to move on all fours, clinging to the wall. Ritsuko stared for a minute but quickly got her bearings and moved through the shadows with her, towards the door, clutching her repulsor unit in her hand. Hikari motioned for her to stop and slowly pushed the door open with her foot as she tucked herself in the angle of the wall and ceiling, like a spider.

As soon as the door opened a shape came barreling out, bellowing.

"_Meka Leka Hi Meka Hiney Ho!__"_ it shouted, swinging something.

Hikari danced out of the way, in hair's breadth of being caught by a plank of wood studded with shards of black glass. A hugely muscled man charged at her, swinging his bizarre weapon. He was dressed only in a belt and loincloth, and an elaborate headdress with feathers and plumes. Ritsuko shouted and scrambled backwards, barely ducking a swing herself.

With a thin war cry, Hikari jumped from the ceiling and tackled him from behind, expecting to knock him on his face with her momentum, but the man pushed back against her with shocking strength. With a start she realized his skin was cold and not clammy but weirdly dry, almost sticky, and she could feel what she took to be bones moving under it, until she heard the soft mechanical whirring sounds of motors.

In her shock she didn't catch the robot reaching over his shoulder to drag her forward by the arm. She pressed her hands and feet flat against his back but the machine ground its gears and pulled, and strips of latex skin came away with her hands as it pulled her forward and dropped her on the ground. She flicked them off, hissing in alarm as they moved like snakeskins, and rolled out of the way of a slash that left a long cut in the tile floor. She rolled onto her hands and feet in time to hear a high pitched whine. Ritsuko aimed her palm at the robot and fired, her hand shooting up almost vertical with a blinding flash that sent the machine slamming into the far wall, smashed open by the force.

Ritsuko rubbed her shoulder. "Hell of a recoil on this thing."

"I think the stairs are a no-go," said Hikari. "As soon as she figures out we've taken down some of her toys, they'll swarm us."

"What do we do, then?" said Ritsuko.

"Get on my back."

Hikari crouched in front of her.

"Seriously?"

"Just do it," said Hikari.

Ritsuko looped her arms around Hikari's neck and clapped her thighs to Hikari's hips, and Hikari stood up easily, flexing her back.

"Whatever a spider can," she said.

"Right," said Ritsuko. "Now wha-"

As Hikari bolted for the railing and cleared it in a single skipping jump, Ritsuko screamed. Laughing, Hikari fired a web straight up, bounced as it took up some tension from her drop, and yanked them up onto the next floor. Ritsuko crawled off of her as if she were red hot, flushed and wide-eyed.

"Warn me, next time," she panted.

Hikari snickered.

"Hey!" Kodama's voice came out tinny. "I heard a scream? Are you okay?"

"We're fine," said Ritsuko. "Pee-Wee Herman the Jaguar Warrior tried to stab us, but I shot him."

"Oh," said Kodama.

"Give us a minute," said Ritsuko. "Which way?"

Hikari led the way, sticking to the shadows. The upper floors had been cleared of patrons, it seemed. The electronics store was in the corner, next to a video game store and a place that sold five hundred dollar shoes. The gate had been pulled down, and it was predictably dark inside. Ritsuko moved past Hikari to shake the grating.

"Hey," she called, "Open up!"

There was no answer.

"Open up!"

"No!" a thin, reedy voice called back.

"We're from Nerv," said Ritsuko, "we're here to he-"

Hikari sighed, and ripped the grating off its track and threw it aside, then walked into the store. A thin, bespectacled sales clerk aimed a can of air duster at her like a gun.

"Easy," she said, making a gesture of surrender with her hands.

Ritsuko brushed past her again. "You. I need a soldering iron, a transistor radio, a television set, a model RC car, a webcam, and a banana."

"A banana?" said the clerk, shaking.

"I have a hangover," said Ritsuko.

Hikari snorted a little laugh and began gathering up the items. She swept a display of MP3 players off its stand to make a makeshift work table, and started piling up the items Ritsuko mentioned. She reached for a black RC car and Ritsuko stopped her.

"The red ones go faster," she said.

Hikari shrugged and carried it over. Ritsuko was already pulling the computer module apart, humming as she looked at the parts. "Get me a wireless router."

With a shrug, Hikari found one and tore it open, pulling it out of the package, and put it on the table. Ritsuko's hands moved like she was possessed, stabbing at the various electronics with her screwdriver to crack open their plastic cases. Whether or not it was red she stripped the RC car of its plastic body, and then began pulling guts out of the others. She sent Hikari to get zip ties and screws, and pointed at one of the computers on display. The metal covers from the little slots on the back turned into bracings to attach whatever she was making to the RC car. She took the rest of the computer, pulled it open and relieved of its guts with practiced ease, and then stopped.

"This should work."

"You didn't pay for that!" the clerk whined.

Hikari and Ritsuko looked at him, then at each other, and went back to work. Ritsuko lifted her watch to her mouth. "Kodama, you there?"

"Yeah, what do I do?"

"There's a switch on the comms array-"

"The what?"

"Looks like a computer. Left hand side," said Ritsuko. "There's chair right in front of it."

"Okay. What switch it is?"

"High gain. It's red. Don't touch the blue one, that's the flame thrower."

Hikari's eyes widened.

"_What?__"_ Kodama whined.

Ritsuko smirked. "I'm kidding. Just push the red button!"

"Done," said Kodama. "It's lighting up."

"Okay, it should look like a big cell phone. There's just a screen a signal strength bar on the side."

"I see it. It's halfway."

"Turn the big dial until it goes up."

A pause. "Okay, it's about three-quarters now."

"That'll work. Next, you have to patch me through."

"How?"

"Type this code into the keypad," said Ritsuko, and rattled off some numbers. "It should say "connection confirmed: encrypt?"

"Yes or no?"

"Yes," said Ritsuko. "Give it a second."

Ritsuko flinched, poking at the bead in her ear. "I'm in," she said to Hikari. "MAGI. Deploy the Mark Thirteen to the mall rooftop."

She nodded, and looked at Hikari. "Five minutes."

"Okay," said Hikari, "Now what?"

She leaned over the table and Hikari craned to watch her. She took the soldering iron and started connecting wires to… things, and was unpacking a laptop.

"Get me a surge protector," said Ritsuko.

"There's no power," Hikari protested.

"Sure there is," said Ritsuko, fishing in her purse. She pulled out a long cord with a jack on one end and a regular outlet on the other.

Hikari unpacked a power strip and Ritsuko took it and stuck the end in the cord, then handed Hikari the thinner end and hitched up the back of her shirt.

"Plug it into my butt."

"_What?__"_

"There's a jack right above the reactor core," Ritsuko snickered, "You can't miss it."

Hikari turned and saw what she meant. The metallic exoskeleton that clung to her back had a large knot right above her rump, and above it was a power jack. The cord slid in easily, and Hikari pushed Ritsuko's shirt up a little more. Thick black lines ran out from her implants, and Hikari swore they were threaded with silver, almost like wires.

It was worse than that. When her hand brushed Ritsuko's skin where it was discolored, she felt a twinge at the back of her neck. It was setting off her spider-sense.

"Oh my God," Hikari breathed.

Ritsuko hastily covered herself. "Okay, okay, Shinji is going to think I'm putting the moves on you."

Hikari felt her cheeks heat and then scowled. "That's not funny," she snapped in a hoarse whisper. "What is that? Are you sick?"

Ritsuko suddenly looked grave, for the barest flash of a second. "Don't worry about it, kid. I'm on it."

In a few minutes the laptop and the charger for the RC car and some batteries were all running off Ritsuko's backside, the power light on the surge protector glowing steadily. The PC booted and Ritsuko grumbled something about bloatware, and a flurry of windows full of scary Courier New white text on a black background appeared as she started fiddling with it.

"I think you voided the warranty," the store clerk whined.

"Can you web him up or something?" said Ritsuko, waving her hand.

She went back to typing, then yanked the wire out of the RC car, which now looked to be pregnant with a computer hunched on its back, wired up to the webcam and the antennas.

"Can you jam it?"

Ritsuko shook her head. "I don't have enough power, and this antenna wouldn't work. I can do us one better. I've set it up to lock on to the control signal and follow it back to the source. It'll send a signal to this laptop."

She carried the car to the edge of the store, set it on the ground, and it scurried off with a mechanical whirr.

"I hope it makes it down the stairs," said Hikari.

Ritsuko looked at her. "Oh. Right. Can you get me to the roof?"

"Climb on," said Hikari, grinning at the look on Ritsuko's face.

* * *

Asuka became frustrated immediately. Moreso than she had been a moment before. The clucking hens were now frightened hens, jostling in the dark. She raised her hand and cast more light on the rest of the shop and looked around, quirking the corners of her mouth down in frustration.

"Listen to me," she said.

The frightened girls continued nattering at each other.

Asuka made the ball of light around her finger expand with a low _whump_. That caught their attention.

"Now, _listen up.__"_ She snapped, resting her other hand on her hip. "Do exactly as I say."

They stared at her with wide eyes that glittered with tears in the dark. Her first impulse was to leave them, but something else prodded her not to. Mari edged closer to her, sniffing the air, and moved towards the door. She let out a scream, and Asuka whirled around, balls of light forming around her fists.

Something charged out of the darkened mall, and pinned Mari down- or tried to. More of them ran into the store as Mari struggled, and in the flickering fey light of her power, Asuka saw Mari getting the upper hand, until the thing's claws ripped into her side and drew a long bleeding gash through cloth and flesh both, and Mari shrieked in pain, writhing under the thing's grasp. The loudspeakers boomed.

"Surrender your purses and wallets and you will not be harmed!"

Asuka felt her lips peel back from her teeth and stepped forward, ready to incinerate the thing savaging Mari, until the tide of their grappling changed. Mari let out a feral noise that was half shriek and half yowl, twisted, and bright metal, shiny-white like chrome, flashed in the dark and bits of whatever was biting and clawing her went flying. She stood up, ignoring the spreading dark patches on her clothes, and wiped blood from her split lip on the back of her hand. Each of her fingers ended in a metallic spike, just a bit longer than her claws had been before. She looked at them approvingly, running her tongue over her too-sharp teeth, and her eyes caught some of the flickering light and almost seemed to glow.

"You're hurt," Asuka said, moving closer.

"I'll be fine, I-"

One of the little buzzard lizard things let out a piercing shriek and threw itself at them. Mari pulled Asuka out of the way and Asuka winced, biting her tongue as it landed on Mari's back and its claws dug into her flesh, dragging cuts down her back as it sank towards the floor. Snarling, Mari spun around, grabbed it, and laid into it with claws of her own, until it was a shuddering, sparking mass on the floor.

Another one ran right past them, a purse clutched in its mouth.

"You have got to be _kidding me_," Mari hissed, moving to chase it.

Asuka stopped her with a hand on her arm. She winced again as her fingers slid in warm blood. "Let it go."

"What?"

"The rest of you," Asuka turned, "Stay here and lower the gate. We'll handle this."

"We will?" said Mari.

Asuka glared at her for a second, in spite of her wounds.

As they moved into the mall, the old woman that ran the store lowered the gate and locked it, then faded back into the dark with the others. Asuka looked around, and saw more of the things that attacked Mari darting around the wide expanse of walkway that surrounded the open pit of the inner atrium. She glanced at Mari; the blood was still there, but the wounds on her arms and side had closed, and the cuts on her back had puckered shut into dark lines that were already fading.

"They're robots, or something," said Mari. "I can smell them."

"Good, then I don't have to worry about melting them," said Asuka, striding towards the stairwell.

"Wait!" Mari called.

It was too late. The door banged open and a hugely muscled man in some kind of Aztec costume seized her by the throat and hauled her off the floor by main strength, and in her panic flame wreathed around her, lighting the darkness of the mall like a miniature sun. The man's skin peeled back and showed he was not a man at all, but a machine, shrunken and skeletal now that the latex skin was melting away from the fame underneath, but he held firm and her vision pricked with tiny little silvers of silver as he closed off her airway. Ignoring her kicking legs, he lifted her up and over the railing and shoved her out into space.

Asuka tumbled through the air, knowing she was too high, it was too far, and she was about to die. Mari came crashing through the barrier, aimed at Asuka with her arms outstretched like a dive. They met in midair with force that knocked the wind out of Asuka as they twisted, and continued to fall. Suddenly Mari was under her, and the floor rush up to meet them.

The sound of the impact was a shuddering, angry _crack_ as Mari crashed into the top of the first floor fountain and rolled with Asuka, the shock so sharp it made her teeth click closed painfully as they hit. They rolled into the water and steam blew out around her until she got her bearings and grabbed her pounding head, waving away the thick fog from the vaporized water. The rest of the fountain had turned pink from Mari's blood. Her skin had split open to reveal muscle beneath where her shoulder took the brunt of the impact, and she was lying on her side in the pool.

Asuka rushed to her and pulled her out of the water, relief washing through her as Mari coughed and darkened water poured down over her chin, but she didn't move after that. Asuka shivered a she realized she was clutching Mari's wounded flesh and drew back, staring at the blood on her hands, her stomach clenching into a tight knot that wanted to crawl out of her throat. She bit back her bile and splashed down in the blood-pink water, her eyes blurring and stinging from tears.

Mari let out a groan and sat up. Asuka nearly lost her battle to keep her gorge down as she saw Mari's shredded shoulder muscles trying to contract, then turned away as she heard the sounds of her wounds closing. Mari crawled out of the water and lay on the edge of the fountain, breathing hard until the shredded flesh of her should and side had closed to more rapidly sinking welts. Then, she promptly rolled over and puked on the floor, long and loud.

"That," she coughed, "Was as painful as it looked."

Asuka splashed through the water and seized her, burying her face in Mari's shoulder. Momentarily shocked, Mari hugged her back.

Asuka froze. The still waters of the fountain pulsed, and a soft ripple rolled through them, then another, and she felt the vibration in her feet, and then she heard it, _doom-boom-doom-boom_, and all at once the main entrance to the mall tented in in a shower of glass and steel and dust, and the enormous head of a tyrannosaur pushed through as it bashed against the lintel of the big door, clawed its way inside, and stood up.

"You gotta be _kidding me,__"_ Mari whimpered.

"Run!" Asuka shouted.

They dragged themselves to their feet, and just in time. The dinosaur thundered through the lower level of the mall, passing through the fountain as if it wasn't there, crushing it aside in a shower of pink water and concrete and spinning sections of metal pipe. For all its speed it was slow to turn, and Mari pushed her out of the way, and they rushed towards the columns that held up the atrium walkways.

Asuka pushed back, forcing them to a stop.

"What are you doing?"

"We have to keep it away from those columns!"

Mari looked over her shoulder. "Run!"

"Split up!"

They ran in opposite directions, and the thing turned after Mari, huge feet pounding cracks in the floor, its claws ripping up long curling tails of linoleum as it struggled to stop and turn. Asuka turned, stumbling in a backwards run, and tossed a flicker of fire at it. It stopped, and she saw the mechanical shutter of its eye turn and twitch open and closed as it turned to run at her. She cut a long circle around the inside of the mall as it began to move, rapidly picking up speed.

"Fry it!" Mari screamed.

"I can't, I'll burn the mall down!"

It was closer, now, and she could only run so fast. She briefly thought to head for the stairwell, but she remembered how that worked out last time, and she would be leaving it to crash around inside the superstructure of the building- and she'd be abandoning Mari.

Her foot hit a wet patch of linoleum floor and a painful jolt ran up her leg as it slid out too far in front of her and she tumbled. The world rolled and she saw a flash of tree-trunk legs tipped with wicked claws and looked up to see a pair of jaws reaching down to close around her, and raised her hands over her face, screaming, the floor around her starting to sizzle as the heat poured off her skin.

With a terrible shriek Mari came barreling out of nowhere and jumped the damned thing, crashing into the side of its head, raking its rubbery skin with her claws. It simply shook, opened its mouth, and Asuka screamed at the top of her lungs as it closed its jaws over Mari's legs, stood up, and shook its head. Mari's cries came out juddering and uneven as he swept her from side to side, threw its head back, and _swallowed _her.

Asuka scrambled to her feet, and didn't run away, but towards it, tongues of heat streaming out behind her as the air shimmered. Tears steamed on her face, and she threw both hands out, flames licking over the robot's flank, blackening and melting its fake skin. It took a pounding step and shook its head, and then its jaws began to open, a loud mechanical grinding like a growl escaping its head.

Skidding to a stop, Asuka watched the jaws open. Mari stood on its tongue, crouched in a squat on one foot and one knee, pushing with her hands over her head. What was left of her clothes had been shredded into a collection of rags that clung to her wet and bloodied skin and wouldn't be decent in most places, and her lips were peeled back from her fangs in fury as she snarled through her clenched teeth and pushed, her whole body coiling and flexing, the muscles on her legs and shoulders and stomach standing out like tight, hard knots as her chest heaved.

Asuka swallowed. That made her feel a little funny. In her stomach.

With another snarl Mari raked her claws along the inside of the thing's mouth, not caring that she accidentally impaled her thigh on one of its teeth, and yanked out some wires and electronic gubbins, clawing towards the thing's brain, but that only made smoke and sparks pour out of its mechanical joints as its lower jaw began to judder and whir, hitching on some stripped gear.

"Its brain isn't in its head!" Asuka shouted, "It's a robot!"

"Thank you for the suggestions!" Mari shouted back, her voice strained.

She managed to wriggle free and land beside Asuka in a crouch, her bare feet squeaking on the floor. Mari stood up and straightened the remnants of her shirt to better cover herself.

The dinosaur let out a bellow, but it sounded tinny and recorded. Asuka blinked. Oh, right, that.

"Run!"

* * *

Toji was sure he was in hell. He looked over at Shinji who very slowly stuffed popcorn in his mouth, not seeming to notice as a few stray puffs tumbled out of his hand here and there. His eyes were glazed and he stared at nothing, and Toji wished he could do the same thing. Shichi and Hachi were on opposite ends of the couch, and Sakura was on the floor. They were all weeping openly with shaking, hitching sobs at the action on screen.

Toji swallowed. "Why are we watching this movie again?"

"It's so beautiful," Sakura sniffed, rubbing at her cheeks.

Slowly, he turned his head and whispered to Shinji. "We should have gone to the mall."

* * *

Hikari kicked the door open and ran into the stairwell, ignoring the locking bar that went flying off into space with a clatter. She stood watch over the lower stair while Ritsuko charged towards the roof, and then backed up to follow her. She could hear more robots pounding up the stairs, and an absolutely hellacious noise from the bottom floor, but they didn't have time for that. Ritsuko was watching the laptop as she walked, while the RV car trundled through the mall somewhere, weaving between display cases and kiosks as it hunted out the source of the signal.

When they burst out onto the roof, it was just in time. More of the robotic jaguar warriors and velociraptors were rushing up the stairs behind them. Hikari half-shoved Ritsuko out onto the roof, then slammed the door shut, grabbed the push bars, and twisted them together with a grunt, making the cords pop out on her forearms. Ritsuko walked to the middle of the roof with that vacant I'm-doing-science air she sometimes had, and began tapping her foot.

"How long?"

"Couple minutes," said Ritsuko.

Hikari jumped back as something pounded against the door, crunching it outward. With a yelp she jumped back and put her weight against it, burying her shoulder against the joint to keep the doors from flying open. She looked over her shoulder. Ritsuko had the laptop on the ground and was hopping around on one foot, struggling out of her clothes and into some kind of black bodysuit at the same time. Hikari looked away with a blush and the yelped as a second impact rocked her on her heels until she remembered to plant her feet and lock herself in place. She ducked back just in time to miss a claw slash aimed at her head through the gap in the doors.

"Can't it go faster?"

"Not long!" Ritsuko shouted, tugging the top of her suit in place. "Just a-"

There was another bang and Hikari went skidding across the roof, pulling a strip of tar paper with her from her planted feet. The doors banged open and a horde of robots burst out, rushing at her. She yelped, rolled, and twisted a half dozen ways, just barely missing swipes from obsidian blades and hooked claws. She somersaulted and ended up on her splayed hands and feet just in time to see the armor coming down out of the sky like a damned comet. It slammed into the roof with an audible crunch, stood up, and unfolded, the chest section lifting backwards as the arms and legs spread open.

Ritsuko turned with a practiced half-hop and landed in it, and sank into the plating as it clanged shut around her. Hikari leapt out of the way as Ritsuko opened up on the robots, and suddenly they were being thrown around like leaves in the wind, robot bits flying everywhere as the repulsor blasts pummeled them into pieces. Hikari stared at the wreckage, panting and heaving.

"I think you should lead with that next time."

"I've transferred the signal from the remote unit over to my armor," said Ritsuko, and then she casually stomped on the laptop.

"The electronics store guy is going to be mad at you," said Hikari.

"It's not his store. Besides, he was staring at my ass the whole time."

"Your pants say 'Juicy' on them."

"Don't sass me," said Ritsuko. "Hop on."

Hikari clambered up onto her back, clinging to her shoulders. She ignored the stairwell and headed right for the center of the broad roof, and blasted out the glass of the atrium ceiling with a light flare from her repulsors. It was Hikari's turn to yelp as she jumped through, missing the shattered glass by inches. As they dove down into the mall, Hikari jumped, fired a web, and dropped down with it as it stretched. Ritsuko kept going and slammed into the ground floor in a three point discount.

A mangled, melted robot tyrannosaur turned and bellowed at them with a harshly recorded, bleating sound, and rushed at Ritsuko. It smashed through a kiosk on its way towards them, and Hikari tensed as Ritsuko stood there in her hulking armor and stared at it.

"Nobody steps on a waffle hut in my town."

She raised both hands and hit it with a whining blast. It kept coming but it turned, its leg going out from under it. It made a pitiable mechanical squeal as it tried to crawl after her. Ritsuko's helmet popped open.

"Watch this," she said.

A plate on her elbow unfolded and a tiny rocket streaked across the mall and buried itself in the robot's side. Ritsuko turned and started walking away with an exaggerated swagger. Hikari felt a pinch at the back of her neck and jumped in time to clamber behind a column as the top half of the pitifully lurching machine blew apart in a shower of sparks with and a heavy whump. It stumbled to the side on its good leg, the top half blown open like a trick cigar, then tumbled over and twitched as its leg shuddered and went still.

"That's right," Ritsuko said, loudly, waving her arms. "I'm a badass."

Hikari groaned.

Asuka and Mari were running up to them. They looked…. Worse for wear. Mari's clothes hung in tatters and she was covered in blood and oil, but she didn't seem to actually be hurt. The two of them skidded to a stop.

"What are _you_ doing here?" said Hikari.

"Shopping," said Asuka. "What was that?"

Hikari took a breath. "There was this guy named… you know what? Screw it. Where is she, boss?"

Ritsuko's helmet clanged shut and her voice came out in the suit's mechanical baritone. "I've got a lock on the origin of the signal, but it's moving."

"Where?"

The helmet popped open. Ritsuko sighed. "The parking garage."

Her helmet snapped shut again, and the four of them ran towards the PARKING sign, which now hung by one corner and squealed as it tilted lazily to the side. Ritsuko popped off a repulsor burst at it and knocked it out of the way, and they ran up the ramp into the parking garage to see a black van come screeching around the corner.

* * *

"I think this is a bad idea," said Kaworu, her voice high and reedy as she clung to the back of the driver's seat.

Hikari's older sister was in said driver's seat, and was turning the key to the vehicle's ignition. Rei very calmly slipped in beside her and pulled the harness over her chest, and with a flutter in her stomach, Kaworu did the same.

Kodama looked at Rei. "What do you think?"

"I think it is an excellent idea," said Rei.

Kaworu hugged herself as Kodama yanked the shift lever into reverse and tromped on the accelerator. The big vehicle rocked on its suspension as it turned backwards at a sharp curve and hit a concrete column with a loud _crunch. _Kodama looked over her shoulder, blinking.

"Whoops."

The source of the signal that controlled the robots was blipping on the screen. Kodama wrestled the wheel around, threw the machine in gear, and rumbled forward again, this time a bit more sedately as she went through the first curve on the descent. As they rounded the next curve they spotted a black van, leaning drunkenly as it slalomed through the turn. Kodama gunned the APC's big engine and the side scraped against the wall.

"Whoops!" she shouted, louder this time.

Kaworu clenched her teeth. The APC jounced as it level out on the bottom floor and Kodama hit the gas, the engine rumbling as they closed on the van. Just as they barreled towards the exit, Hikari appeared on the ramp leading into the mall itself, along with the armor that Akagi was talking about. Behind them were Asuka and Mari, from the school, and Kaworu tensed when she saw them.

The vehicle bounced out onto the street, the van pulling ahead easily even as Kodama floored the pedal.

"They're getting away!"

"Hold on," said Rei. "Take your foot off the gas, please."

Kodama lifted her foot up and said "Wait, what-"

Rei pressed both her hands to the dashboard, such as it was, closed her eyes, and her features pinched in concentration. Kaworu's head banged back against the seat and the stink of rotten eggs shot up her nose, and suddenly her stomach was spinning in every direction as the wheels of the APC skidded across the pavement. She looked up just in time to see the black van barrel down the street and crash into them, nose to nose.

Kaworu screamed and covered her eyes, but the armored vehicle barely rocked. The van, on the other hand, lifted up jumped drunkenly to the side, then slammed back down on its wheels. Rei opened the sliding side door and stepped out, and Kodama slipped out of her safety harness to follow her.

"Wait!" Kaworu called, but they ignored her.

Timidly, Kaworu poked her head through the door and then jumped out, following them. The smell of oil was thick in the air, and the van was demolished. The back doors popped open as the others drew up, skidding to a stop on their feet.

Out of the van stumbled a woman in a green jumpsuit and heavy purple cloak. She wore what appeared to be a fishbowl on her head. She stopped, looked around at the group standing around her, and broke into a run.

Hikari made an annoyed noise and threw her hand out, tossing a thin silvery strand that caught the caped woman by the foot. She yanked at her boot until it came loose and started running again, awkwardly this time with one socked foot and one in a boot. Hikari jumped from a standing start and landed in front of her, then threw a quick jab that made a loud _bonk_ noise when it hit the glass of the helmet.

Lady Mysterio took three steps back and fell down on her rump, cringing.

"I give up! Don't hit me!"

Hikari started screaming at her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Hikari snapped. "You built giant robots to _steal people__'s wallets?"_

Mysterio shrank back. "I have bills to pay. This stuff is _expensive.__"_

"What do you mean, bills to pay?"

"I didn't buy it. I b-bought it."

Hikari grabbed the collar of her cloak and yanked her to her feet, scowling. "From who?"

"I can't tell you! They'll kill me if I tell!"

Asuka stormed up behind her and spun her around, to Hikari's shock.

"You'll tell me," she said, deadly quiet. "Or do we need to test the melting point of that helmet?"

"Back off, both of you."

The booming male voice made Kaworu flinch until she realized it came from Akagi's armor.

"We're not going to get anything out of her this way. I've already signaled for Nerv security. We'll handle this."

"But-" Hikari and Asuka both snapped.

"You heard me!"

Asuka backed away. She looked at Kaworu, and her eyes widened before she turned away.

"Now," said Akagi. "We have shopping to do."

It sounded very strange in a booming, synthesized male voice.

* * *

_Stay cool_, Shinji thought, _stay cool_.

It was a futile gesture. He was already sweating, and could feel it on his forehead and between his shoulder blades, soaking into his undershirt. Ritsuko had insisted that he and Toji travel to the dance separately- in fact, they were ushered out the door hours before. Now they were all standing around in the gymnasium, watching some of the other students drift in.

"I can't believe they didn't call us," said Toji.

Shinji rolled his eyes. Again. "They can take care of themselves."

"I'd have smashed those things in two seconds flat."

"Right," said Shinji, leaning against the wall. _Be cool_.

Quite unconsciously, he imitated his father's typical slouch, slipping his hands in his pockets as he leaned on the wall. The concrete block was cool and made him feel less closed in as he tapped his foot, waiting. Miss Katsuragi was already there, and to Toji immense disappointment, she was dressed very conservatively, like she would any other day at school. Toji fiddled with his jacket. Shinji closed his eyes, and could feel the metal in the big stands the speakers were on, in the cars moving outside. The speakers let out a low whine and he stopped, opened his eyes, and stood up.

"Big car just pulled up," he said quietly, for Toji alone. "It might be them."

"That's eerie," said Toji. "Very eerie."

Shinji blinked at him.

"I have a word of the day calendar."

"Eerie is the word of the day?"

Toji looked at him. "How'd you know?"

Shinji smirked and looked away, feeling a little less fluttery at last. It was then, of course, that the girls showed up. At first, he barely recognized them. He was shocked to see Ritsuko wearing actual clothes, and ones that kept her mostly covered, too- he had no idea she owned an ankle length dress, and never would have guessed. It was a dark cream color and didn't hug her curves at all, and she ignored the boys, moving towards Katsuragi and Lawson, who had joined them when no one was looking. He had a habit of that.

His heart hammered in his chest when Hikari walked in. Her dress was conservative, at least in theory. It went almost to her ankles and closed up tightly around her neck, but her arms were out and when she moved he saw a hint of skin and realized it had _no back_, and a deep slash on the right side that went halfway up her thigh. Gone was her usual ponytail, and in its place an elaborate braid that hung loosely over one shoulder.

"Holy crap," Toji breathed, and Shinji was afraid he'd fall over.

Rei's dress was deep blue, and swished around her legs when she walked. It came up to her shoulders and left her arms bare, and for half a heartbeat Shinji forgot she was, genetically, his sister. The notion that Toji would probably be making out with a sort-of clone of him flickered in his mind and he _sharply _repressed it. Rei had her hair done, and instead of its usual frizz it was so silky and smooth that it looked like one polished piece of bluish metal, but moved like a liquid. On top of that, she _smiled_. Shinji couldn't think of anything more shocking.

Kensuke brought his date in a few minutes later- seeing Kaworu made Shinji do a double take that made a little pang of guilt stab his stomach. She didn't look like the same girl. Her dress was black, black as night with little touches of very dark blue here and there, and the darkness of it made her skin stand out, like polished pearl. Now that it had been styled her wispy hair hung in waves to her shoulder, and drifted down over one eye. It took him a moment to realize that the necklace draped over her chest was real rubies, and it made her crimson eyes glow.

He froze, his heels scuffing the floor. _She looks like Rei._

He shook out the thought as Kensuke waved and started pulling her over. Shinji let out a breath when he realized he wasn't the only one distracted by Kaworu; she was getting a few stares from other directions, too, but was oblivious to it. Kensuke started talking with Toji, and again Shinji flinched at the similarity. Standing next to each other, Rei and Kaworu looked like they were related.

Not on his side of the family, though.

Ritsuko must have noticed it, too. She was glancing at the girls and frowning, talking out of the side of her mouth to Miss Katsuragi. Shinji had no idea they knew each other, but they looked like old friends, standing together, Lawson off to the side and nodding at some student chatting with him.

"Should I be jealous?"

Hikari drifted… no, _flowed_ up to him. He'd never seen anyone so graceful in his life. She _swayed_ when she moved, like she was on a boat, and curled her fingers lightly around his arm and leaned close to his ear, close enough to feel her breath on his skin.

"Don't you see it?" he said.

"See what?"

"Look at Kaworu, and look at Rei."

Hikari looked at them, and frowned slightly. "Whoa. How did I not pick up on that before?"

Shinji shook his head. "It's weird," he said. "I barely talk to her. Rei, I mean," he added, hastily.

"You should," said Hikari. "She's family."

"Family," said Shinji.

She smiled at him, and he couldn't help but smile back, only to flinch when a flash filled his vision. He blinked, and found Ritsuko staring at him through a camera, grinning. She said nothing and drifted back into the crowd, laughing quietly to herself.

"What's up with her?" said Hikari.

Shinji shrugged. Suddenly, the speakers piped up -he felt the change in the magnetic field just before the music began- playing a low, slow song while the rest of the students arrived.

"Shall we dance?" said Hikari.

"We shall."

They both looked when Mari and Asuka walked in, decked out in their ensembles. Asuka's dress was red, of course, and he felt a strange stir when he saw the crimson ribbons that held it close to her body, and the large and very expensive looking sapphires on her choker. Mari wore what amounted to a sequined pink tube that hugged her body closely, and she had her hair in an updo that nestled between her ears.

No one seemed to notice any of that, when they realized that the girls were holding hands.

"Oh." Said Shinji. "Oh, _wow.__"_

Hikari snorted. "You really had no idea, did you?"

* * *

The party was in full swing when Ritsuko found Shinji. She tapped him on the shoulder, and he nearly jumped in the air at the shock. Ritsuko couldn't help but snicker as he took a half step back from Hikari. Moments before they'd been in a vertical petting session, or as near as the watchful eye of Drill Sergeant Misato would allow.

"I have to head out," she said. "I'm passing the chaperoning duties to the teachers. I'll see you two tomorrow, huh?"

Shinji nodded at her, and Hikari only had eyes for him. She felt a little pang of something she wasn't quite sure what to call and started to slip away, then stopped. She moved closer to them, so only they could hear.

"Listen," she said, "don't do anything you'll regret later, okay?"

"Um," said Shinji. "What would I… oh."

Hikari smirked at her and nodded, gently. Ritsuko nodded, smirking, and turned away. Good kids, they were. Shinji she wasn't sure of, but she knew Hikari had a good head on her shoulders. She also knew they were crazy for each other, which worried her, but only a little. She had an errand to run.

She made her way to the edge of the gymnasium when he called her name.

"Leaving us so soon?"

Him. Lawson.

"I have some work to do back at the base," she sighed.

"That's a lie," he said, smirking.

"Aren't you clever."

He stood to his full height, from leaning on the wall. "No need to sound defensive."

She eyed him, trying to keep her expression neutral. Sakura had given her some info on him, but only when pressed. She seemed uneasy about the whole thing, and Ritsuko had seen what he could do. There were mutants with shape shifting abilities, she reasoned, even with matter and reality manipulation powers.

"I know what you think you are," she said. "Or what you claim you are."

"I'd rather not talk about that," he shrugged. "It's unpleasant. Yet, I assure you I am the real thing."

"That's impossible."

He smirked. He had quite a smirk, this one. She knew why Misato liked him. "If you say so," he said.

"I understand you and Misato are… friendly."

He barked out a laugh at that, which woke a few of the students from their sleepy slow dancing. "I'd say so. She's thinking about asking me to move in with her."

"You read her mind?" said Ritsuko, quirking an eyebrow.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have _magnificent _eyebrows, doctor? No, I don't need to read her mind. She told me as much."

"What are you going to say?"

His face darkened. "I can't."

She looked at him flatly again. "Why are you here?"

"To settle an old score," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I'm on your side, I assure you."

"For now," Ritsuko said, more sharply than she meant to.

He smirked at her, and it widened into a grin. "Someone's been reading their mythology books. Or should I say, history?"

Ritsuko snorted. "Right. I'll be seeing you."

He turned to leave. "And I you, my dear doctor."

Lawson seemed to melt into the crowd, and the way he did made her feel a tad uneasy, but she dismissed it and headed out into the parking lot. The staff car was waiting for her, but she waved at the driver and walked to his side of the car.

"Wait for the kids," she said, leaning into his window. "Take them where they want to go. Just keep an eye on them for me, okay? No blackouts or pregnancies, please."

The driver nodded at her and she left, sticking her hands in the pockets of her coat. She decided to walk it- there was an access shaft not far from the school, for the pilots. She pushed through the turnstile, swept her ID through the reader and rode the escalator down. It wasn't a shift change so she was alone with her thoughts in the tram car as she rode it down to the Geofront, lights flashing by the windows until the wide cavern opened beneath her. She yawned, having seen it before, and let her mind wander as she waited to pull up to the secure checkpoint.

Those books Sakura found weighed on her mind, but there was something else. Hikari reacted badly to the marks on her back, and Hikari had a way of sensing danger- literally, according to her tests. She needed to take a sample of it, figure out if it was a growth or some kind of cancer or something else equally horrible. An infinite energy supply couldn't come without a price tag, something to balance the scales.

When she hit the checkpoint she breezed through and took yet another elevator down to her office. The techs waved at her as she passed, and she waved back, and wound her way into her office where she plugged her camera into her computer, and printed out the picture she wanted.

* * *

Gendo sat up when he heard footfalls. Someone was visiting him, as there was no one else on this level of the brig. He flinched when he realized it was Akagi. She was dressed oddly formally, for her. She came to a stop in front of his cell, just out of arm's reach, holding a piece of paper to her chest.

"Gendo," she said.

"Akagi," he said, sitting up.

He ran his fingers over his chin stubble. "Any word on when I'm to be executed?"

"You're not," said Akagi, tapping her finger against her printout. "I don't know if you'll ever get out, though."

He nodded. "You probably think you're being merciful."

"You didn't kill my mother," she said, very calmly. "You were just the instrument."

"I did," said Gendo, the words tumbling out of her mouth. I put on the mask. I dragged her by her throat and shoved her in the entry plug. I laughed while she screamed when it tore her apart. I did those things, no one else."

"Would you have done it without _that thing_ making you?"

"I don't know."

"The goblin serum," said Ritsuko. "Was that her… him… whatever?"

"No, that was my idea."

"Why?"

He looked up. "I was afraid."

"You," said Ritsuko. "You were _afraid. _You looked at me once, when I was visiting Mother. I was in school then, you probably don't remember. You looked at me as if I wasn't there. I thought I'd piss myself."

"I was," said Gendo. "You've seen what my son can do, what the others can do. How can I hope to protect him in a world with people like that?"

He folded his hands. "It didn't matter anyway. There was nothing I could do to stop her. You see how vulnerable we are, how weak we mere mortals are compared to them. I needed an edge, so I found it."

She didn't say anything. She offered the printout. "Here."

"I don't care," he said, waving it away.

"Take it," she insisted.

He reached through the bars and snapped it out of her hand, and before he had a chance to read it, she turned on her heels and walked away. He turned it around and looked at it, and it startled him to see. It wasn't some report, it was a picture, and a recent one. A picture of his son. His son… and his girlfriend, at some sort of a school function. He realized it was her, the same girl he tried to… hurt. She looked different. She looked happy, happy to be with the boy. _Their _boy.

Gendo realized his hands were trembling and let the paper float to the floor, like a leaf.

"I told you," Summers voice whispered, acidly. "I told you she'd corrupt him, make him hers. _Steal _him from you. She needed to die, and instead you let her _hurt me_-"

He snapped around. The apparition sat on the bed in her black negligee, legs drawn up to accentuate the curves of her long, milk-pale legs, big eyelashes fluttering. Gendo stared at her for a second, and then drove his fist through her face.

There was nothing but air. She was just out of the way, just out of reach, giggling at him. He threw another punch, felt it pass through nothing and hit the wall, and winced, and then hit it again and again, with both fists, shouting wordlessly until he sank to the bed, cloaked in sweat and clutching his aching hands, raw from where they'd pounded a pair of iron-colored stains into the wall.

When he looked up, Akagi was watching him, her eyes a little wider than usual, and pale as a sheet. Gendo turned away from her and drew up on the cot, and listened to the sound of her heels clicking as she walked away.

* * *

_Next_...

**DOOM!**


	16. The Protocol

_Last time on…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_The mall trip turned out to be a disaster, mostly. Having conceived the brilliant plan of using sophisticated, autonomous animatronic robots to steal people's wallets, "Lady Mysterio" quickly found herself overwhelmed by the combined force of Ritsuko, Hikari, Mari, and Asuka, and surrendered after one punch from Hikari, babbling about owing a massive debt to whoever had sold her the armor and equipment she used to rob the mall, presumably to pay back said debts… _

_Shockingly, the school dance went off without a hitch. Shinji, ever the master of observation, noticed that the (eerily beautiful) transfer student Kaworu Nagisa and Rei Ayanami share a shocking resemblance. Ritsuko used the opportunity to sneak a picture of Shinji and Hikari dancing, and presented the picture to Gendo, who suffered a breakdown and argument with the duplicate of Natalie Summers/Mister Sinister that has invaded his mind… an argument witnessed by Ritsuko, who left in shock. _

_Not all is well in the land of Tokyo-3. Ritsuko's back troubles her sharply, and something appears to be growing in it, something that sets off Hikari's spider-sense when she gets too close. In spite of this, Ritsuko has downplayed the problem, dismissing it as a side effect of the crude surgery that both restored her ability to walk and left her incapable of bearing children, something which has only just begun to bother her. _

_At the dance, Asuka and Mari made their public debut, confirming the rumors about their relationship, while Kensuke danced with Kaworu, who held the attention of the dance floor. After their brief adventure at the mall, the people of Tokyo-3 had a respite from trouble for a time, but it would be brief indeed. Hanging at the back of everyone's mind was the simple truth: Doom is coming._

* * *

"**THE PROTOCOL"**

* * *

She felt it, the briefest flicker that ran through her and the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Asuka blinked and saw the signs- Mari was sniffing the air, sitting up excitedly in her seat, and Hikari Horaki's eyes went unfocused for a second, her arm unconsciously lifting to touch the back of her head. She turned around in her seat just as Asuka's phone buzzed in her pocket and the lights over the door to the lecture hall began to flash. The teacher stopped in her lecture with a piece of chalk in her hand, all the color draining in her face as the evacuation alarms wailed impending doom outside, their muted chorus joining with the shrill, insistent tone of the school fire alarm. By rote the students began to stand up, and she began pushing her way through them, a hand on an arm here, a shoulder there. Mari moved along behind her, and the Horaki girl seemed to float between them, knowing who would bump into her before they moved and deftly twisting out of the way. Shinji was in the hall, waiting for her, with his… his sister.

Mari, Horaki and the blockhead Suzahara boy weren't filing into the shelters with the others.

"Where are you going?" Asuka demanded, as she realized they were following the pilots.

"Ritsuko… Doctor Akagi's orders," said Hikari. "We're going to the B-Team, so we get called in, too."

Asuka blinked. That was news to her. B-Team?

"Whatever. Keep up."

Asuka rushed through the hall towards the side entrance to the school, where the staff car crouched, long and matte black dripping Top Secret. The driver opened the doors for them and the pilots and the… B-Team piled inside. Horaki made sure to wedge herself tightly beside Shinji, and Asuka felt a little pang of jealousy when the girl gripped Shinji's hand and he looked knowingly into her eyes, a silly and tepid little thing, like an itch in a phantom limb. It faded when Mari griped her own hand. Asuka was a little surprised to see Ayanami grasp the Suzahara boy's hand, perhaps in imitation of their gestures, her alabaster skin making him look dusky by comparison. Her expression didn't change, until it did. Asuka stared at her but felt no shame, watching the way she looked at the other boy, her brows and fine pink lips moving in funny little twitches, like there was an expression under her mask of a face somewhere and she didn't know how to put it together. She almost felt saddened by that.

_I'm going soft_, she thought, _what's wrong with me?_

The car started moving. Horaki couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"This isn't a false alarm, right?" she said. "They wouldn't do that. Call us in for a false alarm."

Asuka shook her head. "There has to be confirmation, usually visual, before the evacuation is sounded."

Horaki wasn't listening to her. The question was directed at Shinji and he answered it not with words, but by staring at her and twisting one lock of her brown hair in his fingers, and then they were staring at each other like they were alone in the car. Asuka turned and shifted and pressed hard into Mari, hip to hip, resisting the sudden urge to bury her face in the taller girl's shoulder and smell the thick earthy musk that clung to her hair, like a cat. Mari sensed the tension and slipped an arm around her, and Asuka felt worse, felt the pressure coiling up in her stomach until it was twisting. She forced her face into a mask and felt her lower lip trembling anyway, and suddenly she was standing in the Great Hall before her father, a towering titan of emerald and steel, his eyes -the only part of him she ever saw- weighing her from within the twisted scowl of his mask. A dozen minor infractions contracted into one in her mind, and though her governess, the Harkness woman, was speaking, listing her various faults, all the eyes in the room were on her.

Her hand tightened into a fist, clamping down on Mari's until she could feel the metal on her bones. She was quieter now, reserved. She sat straight as a rod in the seat, like her backbone was hammered iron, and stared at the world with a glare that never quite focused on anything as she repeated the mental lessons that had been drilled into her since the night she lit her bed on fire in her sleep. Focused herself, felt her own heartbeat and breathing. By making her body calm her mind would follow.

It didn't. As the long limousine crested the dip into the access tunnel she coughed a little, forcing bile back down her throat. Something gnawed at her, some presence over her shoulder that grew stronger the deeper they went into the Earth, into the giant bomb shelter tomb that was the Geofront, all a-sparkle with stolen sunlight channeled in great beaming streams through a system of mirrors to the floor below, like the grace of God in some cheesy painting. Everything glittered and then the car was swallowed by the tunnel that ran around the perimeter of the cavern, towards the waiting trams. The special access doors were opened, and the car would be carried by electric train directly to the staging area outside the cages.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence, and Asuka felt very cold, the sensation so alien she didn't know what it was at first, like a breath of air sucking the heat out of a warm day. She heard an old man's voice she'd tried to banish, and with it the nagging doubt.

_His _Grace_ your father murdered your mother._

* * *

"What do we know?" Ritsuko demanded, sweeping onto the deck behind her crew of technicians.

They all looked grim. If Maya wasn't green all the time anyway, she would have been then. Ritsuko looked at the main screen, still displaying the energy spikes the sensors were picking up. The MAGI had confirmed the blue pattern twenty minutes before, and the alert was issued ten minutes after that. The pilots were on their way, with the secondaries- they had nothing to pilot, but something, some nagging urge in her gut, made her arrange for them to be brought in anyway. Under her baggy sweatclothes she was wearing the inner exoframe of the Mark Fifteen rapid response suit, the as-yet uncompleted new armor she was working on. She wasn't quite sure _why_ yet, but having it wired into her back, wired into her spinal implants, eased the pain, which had grown from sharp spikes here and there to a perpetual dull ache marked my twinges so sharp they almost made her double over. She had a bottle of codeine pills in her labcoat pocket. She wrote and filled the script for those herself, and so far she had been very careful about taking them- to get her to sleep, mostly, and one time when the pain had become so sharp that she curled up on her bed and sobbed into a pillow while she waited for the pills to kick in, praying the kids in the house wouldn't hear her.

She felt clear now, though, and that was good.

No one had answered her question, however, and that made her tap her foot anxiously. "Where's the visual? Standard operating procedure-"

"We don't have visual," said Maya, "we have sonar."

"Sonar?"

Ritsuko blinked, and an image appeared on the screen- a grainy, psychedelically colored side-scanning sonar image. She swallowed, hard. At first she took the shape for a mountain, a feature on the sea bottom near where the blue pattern had been detected, but the long she stared the more she made out the general shape- long and low and distinct from the ocean floor, with a long, vertically finned tail and four stubby limbs that were clearly legs, splayed out like a crocodile's.

"Talk to me, Maya. Size?"

Maya's voice hitched. "It's displacing around twelve hundred tons. The best readout we have says it's in the range of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty meters. It'll make landfall in about an hour. It hasn't manifested an AT-Field yet."

Ritsuko nodded. "Position?"

Hyuga spoke now, very quietly. "It's passing through the Odo Island restricted zone now," he said. "Since it appeared, there's been three seismic events, increasing in strength, and…" he looked at the others, and gathered up his voice. "A radiological alert. The monitoring station says they haven't seen activity like this since 1979. Commander Fuyutsuki is on the line with the prime minister and the Secretary General now."

Ritsuko wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand, feeling herself itch at the first prickles of new sweat. "Let me know if there's any movement. Status of the pilots?"

"They're in the locker rooms now," said Maya. "Duty assignments?"

"All of them," said Ritsuko. "I want Rei deployed with the fusion cannon. Deploy her through tube…" she thought for a moment, "B-12. That should give us a good view of the shoreline. I want the others on her flanks, ready to advance."

Maya nodded and began talking to someone through her headset mic, clasping her hand over it to close off the din of Central Dogma, buzzing with nervous energy and tight voices. Ritsuko saw Fuyutsuki on the upper deck and went to the ladder, thought better of it, and rode the small service elevator up instead. She moved beside him to the railing. It was odd looking down on the techs from up here. Normally she'd be monitoring them directly, looking down upon by the Commander. Fuyutsuki technically took that role, but they both knew they shared it, and the bulk of the responsibility was on her. He'd been doing his job just now, and he looked grim.

"Well?" she said.

"The government has agreed to put the defense forces and the UN detachments at our disposal immediately upon declaration of the Protocol," said Fuyutsuki.

"That's lovely," said Ritsuko. "I think I should go give the pilots a pep talk."

He touched her arm. "You should stay up here," he said, quietly. "You're running this show as much as I am, and they all know it."

Ritsuko bit her lip. The old man had a quiet way about him, and she felt like a student being called up to the board to solve a particularly onerous equation in front of the class. Memories of that still haunted her, what little there were before Second Impact disrupted all that and she moved with her mother into the shelters. When the Impact came, she was just old enough to be aware of all the boys taking the opportunity to stare at her ass while she puzzled over solving for X. She blinked away from Fuyutsuki, turning around. For a man old enough to be her father, he had a certain air about him that edged on attractive, especially when that teacherly quality entered his voice.

She shook that thought out of her head, wondering what her mind would conjure next to distract her from the job. On cue, a shooter of pain ran up her spine and she grunted quietly, forcing herself upright and clenching her teeth. She would not pop a pill in front of the old man, of that she was damned sure. She leaned on the railing to steady herself, and quieted her mind with the lie that it made her look martial and in-charge despite her baggy clothes.

"The pilots are saddling up," Maya said over her shoulder, loud enough to be heard now.

"Launch immediately on synchronization," said Ritsuko.

"Should we tell them about the Island?"

"No, not unless it becomes relevant."

* * *

Asuka stepped out of the locker room in her new plugsuit. It was heavier and thicker than the originals, the chest heavily armored with segmented plates centered on a glowing arc reactor that powered its internal systems. The helmets had been changed as well- gone was the bulky unit she was used to with its glass faceplate and the bumps on the top to hold her nerve clips in place. Instead it opened like a motorcycle helmet, and the nerve interface was built into it, though she still wore the old clips in her hair- she liked the look. She threaded her now obsolete headset out and handed it to Mari, who gripped it tightly in her right hand while slipping her left around Asuka's waist. The armor plating dulled the soft weight of her touch but Asuka forgot that when their lips brushed together. By any conventional metric Mari's breath smelled terrible and always did, the kind of acidy tang that marks the stinking breath of a predator, an animal whose digestive tract is adapted to the eating of flesh, but it had a curiously predatory quality that Asuka found weirdly endearing, and she drank deeply of it. Mari made a soft little cat purr and went from a chaste kiss to a deeper one, and then rubbed her silky smooth cheek against Asuka's in a way that deeply pleased them both, their own special little touch, a gesture that belonged to them and no one else. For the first time she could remember Asuka was well and truly dreading mounting the Evangelion, fear and distaste seething in her guts by equal measure. She kissed Mari again and forgot it.

From the corner of her she saw the others. She felt predatory herself now, and a little ashamed to watch, but it fascinated her how Hikari doted on Shinji, meeting him at the locker room door and clutching his arm as if she was afraid someone would snatch him away from her while they walked away. Shinji looked rather martial in his new plugsuit, which bulked out his shoulder and chest in a way his old one hadn't, and the way his hip canted when he tucked his helmet under his arm was almost cute, in a way, and Asuka felt a weird, sympathetic pang of… something she couldn't quite identify when she realized their hips bumped each other as they walked towards the Eva. Shinji gave Asuka a slight nod and she saluted back with her fist on her chest, their little good luck gesture since they started training to pilot, and stopped to say something to Rei, who had just emerged from the lockers. Mari was watching them as well, but watched Asuka more intently.

"They're cute together," she mused.

"They're an embarrassment," Asuka snapped, but there was no heat in it.

As if to make her thoughts clear on the subject of embarrassment, Mari turned her chin up with the crook of her finger and kissed her again, and this time it made her rise up involuntarily on her tip-toes; Mari was so damned tall. Asuka pulled back, feeling heat on her cheeks- the heat of a blush, not of the terrifying heat that lived in her body, ready to lash out and destroy everything around her if she lost focus. That heat rose too and she tamped it down hard, focusing on the burning in her cheeks, a weirdly comforting sensation. Mari touched her face, the ghost of a caress over her cheekbone, and Asuka turned to head for her own Eva. Rei and Suzahara were speaking to each other, but she gave them their privacy.

When Rei walked beside her, Asuka saw the pale girl's cheeks were wet and her eyes were glittering. She stared straight ahead and her face was a mask, of such emotionless perfection that Asuka envied her reserve, but she asked.

"Why are you…" Asuka swallowed, "Why…"

Rei moved to swipe at her eyes, saw the armored glove of her plugsuit, and thought better of it. "He will be sad if I do not return."

Asuka stared straight ahead as she walked. "I suppose he will."

"I should return, then," said Rei, and veered off towards her own entry plug.

Asuka walked out under the looming visage of Unit Two. The least damaged in the fighting, her Eva was the first and most extensively retrofitted. The head was more heavily armored now, and surrounded by a sweeping shield that rose up from the Eva's shoulders, to protect the neck and the section of the chest that held the entry plug. It looked like the collar a cheesy vampire might wear on his cloak. The shoulder pylons were much larger and heavier, and now carried a pair of kinetic projectile launchers- a fancy term for heavy spikes that fired straight ahead, meant to be used in close combat. The extensive new armor plating, some of it still primer gray, thickened the Eva's waist and upper arms, and on each forearm was a thickened section that each contained a retractable progressive blade. Rounding out her new on-board armaments were rotary cannons in the Eva's now deeper chest, flanking a set of missile launchers that Akagi had called the "boob rockets", which did not amuse Asuka in the slightest.

She closed her new helmet around her head, tucking her hair up under the inside, and blinked a few times as the interface appeared- it was now fully integrated into her eyepieces. The routine of entering the plug soothed her as she inserted the cable harness into the back of her helmet and locked herself into the seat as the control yoke lowered down to meet her hands. The familiar tingle of synchronization flooded her mind, and she became aware of a second body that drifted towards her own until they felt like they were in the same place, and she wasn't sure if it was her fingers or the Eva's that were moving when she flexed her hand.

_I heard a voice, _she thought. _It spoke to me_.

If the Eva spoke at all, it was silent now, except for the grinding sound as it stood up. As its nervous system linked with hers, a jolt ran through the titan's body and it grew in the cage, its head lifting up as the LCL bath drained away, flooding with a great hollow rolling sound to be drained even as the LCL around her went clear as her helmet compensated for the coloration of the liquid. As she always did, she wondered where it all came from, and for that matter, exactly what it was. No one had ever told her, and she always forgot about it sooner or later and thus never asked.

Ibuki informed her of the tube she would be deployed through, and a schematic appeared on her screen. She set her jaw and pushed back into the seat, tightening the straps on her legs. It would be a bumpy ride, with a number of turns that would make her glad she'd skipped breakfast this morning.

* * *

She was tapping her foot, and try as she might to stop, she kept on tapping her foot, beating out a slow one-two-three on the polished floor under her sneaker. Ritsuko watched the blips on the screen that showed the pilots speeding through the launch tubes, taking sharp turns and steep grades on their way to the surface. It was a poor representation of what they went through- the g-forces in the turns rivaled what a fighter pilot might experience, and she chalked it up to training and the remarkably spongy bodies of teenagers that allowed them to make it through it without upchucking in their helmets. The cushioning effect of the LCL helped. She wondered if there was a way she could pressurize their suits and… no, they might get bends and she didn't need to have them decompressing after ever… she shook her head. She had to focus, not start trailing off on flights of fancy. The harder she tried the more distractions cropped up. She found herself thinking about some refinements to the knee joint in her next generation suit and if there was a way to equip the Evas for amphibious operations, in light of the current problem. She was midway through drawing crude schematics for a submersible engine to bolt onto the Evas' backs when Maya looked over her shoulder, speaking uncharacteristically loudly.

"They're on the surface."

_I should promote her._ Maya could take her place, occupy the space she once filled as she stood up here, towering over everyone in Gendo's spot, but not really Gendo's- Fuyutsuki was at the desk, monitoring his own screens and speaking softly through the headset he wore, talking to some general or other, coordinate. Ritsuko had no head for logistics, and an operation on this scale was massive, absolutely massive. The weight of Maya's stare brought her back to reality.

"Keep them on shore power for now," said Ritsuko. "Have Rei switch her docking jack over to the fusion gun. We might be able to drop this thing before it gets too far inland."

Maya nodded, and then turned to relay the command. "Let's see what we've got."

As the view on the big screen changed, the legend in the corner noted that it was Unit Zero's gun camera, so this was what Rei was seeing. The world tilted and shifted as she unplugged the jack from her back and slipped it into the cannon, essentially a great big giant monster sized sniper rifle. Rei lowered the Eva to one knee and an absolutely gigantic bipod telescoped open from the gun. There was no sound, but she could imagine the groans and grindings as the Eva settled into place. Unit Two's fist popped into frame from the side, opening and closing. Something about that unnerved her, and she reached out to bring up Asuka's plug cam before she realized there wasn't a terminal in front of her. She dismissed the thought and folded her hands behind her back. The motion made her back arch and the muscles around her spinal implants tighten, but paradoxically that made it feel better, like they were always trying to pull tight and she just wouldn't let them. She heard a soft pop and felt a rush of relief roll through her as the pain faded for a second before coming back as a dull ache, like staring into a monitor without enough sleep. She cocked her head to either side.

There was nothing on the screen as yet- just a view of the coastline, the waves lapping gently at the shore. This beach used to be a heavily populated part of the megalopolis, but now it was totally open. The buildings on shore had been hauled away and the area turned into a park until Japan's population hopefully exploded again and filled it up once more, but for now it was empty and the debris reclaimed for materials, and because no one could stand leaving the entire nation a graveyard after the wars and the waves were gone. Somewhere out there in the deep, in the dark, the broken buildings that had been flooded out when the sea level permanently rose were hiding like ghosts, ready to peak out of the night but never quite showing their faces. The thought of it unnerved Ritsuko, and the thought of the massive thing implied by that sonar scan stomping through them under the sea and stepping on bleached bones trapped in much and broken cement made her shudder.

"Where is it?"

"It should be visible soon," said Hyuga.

As if he summoned it, she saw the first breaker from the water pushed ahead of the beast. It rolled massively into shore and she saw the crest of a new wave forming, but it wasn't a regular wave this time, but the surface of the water lifting up, bending over the gigantic shape of the angel the way the ocean does when something huge moves to break the waves and the law of surface tension clings fast in protest. It was moving fast enough to keep a constant white breaker flowing over its back, shifting from side to side in a way that suggested those huge splayed legs were clawing for purchase in the sunken ruins of civilization even now, and soon it would cross the threshold over the beach and be in their backyard.

The gun camera shifted. Rei tightened visibly, and the Magi automatically began working on a firing solution, calculating ranges and angles to adjust the reticle she saw, which didn't appear on the camera view she shared with them, but inside her helmet. The camera became remarkably steady, and then began to shake rhythmically, dancing into a stuttering blur every few seconds before the gyros adjusted it, and Ritsuko realized that vibration wasn't coming from the Eva at all, but from under the surface of the water.

"Contact," said Maya. The whole room had gone quiet. "Orders?"

Ritsuko looked at Fuyutsuki, but he just looked back at her.

"Kill it," she said.

* * *

Asuka felt the tension inside her coiled to the breaking point. Her muscles felt like stretched steel springs under her skin and she wanted to launch herself at the thing breaking the surface of the water, but stopped herself, waiting for orders. Her discipline held her and it felt like it was made of wires stretched over her skin, chafing and cutting in a way it never had before. She glanced to her left and saw Unit Zero moving slightly, working the long barrel of the fusion cannon this way and that as she worked with the computer's targeting data. Asuka thought it all enormously unnecessary- the thing was so big she couldn't possibly have missed it. The water was lifting up in a great sheet and spilling away, and in her helmet her mouth dropped open.

What she took to be the creature's body was just its head. It lifted out of the water and she felt a wave of revulsion pass through her at its wrongness. It was like a parody of a living thing, a grotesque mockery of an extinct crocodilian she'd once seen in a textbook, an absurd creature that looked like it was half jaw, its snout long and thin and full of teeth. The angel's flesh was pasty white and shiny in a way that made half-remembered passages from Melville float into the back of her mind, where she tamped them down, reaching for focus. She saw no eyes but as the thing's long mouth broke the water, looking more like a huge claw than a mouth in truth, she knew it could see her, and that it was angry. A sound trumpeted out of it, so low and thick that she felt it in her bones as much as in her ears, and she blinked as she felt the control yoke shaking as the great basso rumble, part of it too low to hear, passed through the Eva. She tightened her grip and watched as the rest of the thing lifted up, rising up on long thick legs that jutted out to either side, and despite their size looked too small to lift the great weight of the thing. Its tail lifted up out of the water and she saw how immense it was, reaching far back into the deep, out to where the real ocean was and not the flooded remains of city that hid under the blue.

Rei's gun bobbed, the Eva took on a strange, still quality, and then she fired. The ker-_whump_ sound the cannon made preceded the flash of light, filtered out to a tolerable level by the Eva's optics, and the creature was so close the blast lanced right to it and tore a long wound trench along its back, towards its great white hump, and it cried out again, lower now, like some lunatic monster loon-bird. Asuka hated the sound and had to resist the urge to clap her hands to her ears, and did it by gripping the butterfly handles so hard she thought they might rip out of the yoke by the root. She pulled them back and the Eva stood to its full height, and she felt the grinding as the blades slid out of her arms before she was aware she'd done it.

The angel charged forward with the lumbering grace of a crocodile charging after a gazelle, headed straight for the one that wounded it so. It was fast, too fast. Rei fired again but the shot only enraged it further, blowing out chunks of pale bloodless flesh from its huge back, and hit nothing of any relevance as it came on just the same. Before Asuka could even react it was on them and Shinji was dragging Unit Zero out of the way, pulling her back. It turned its huge jaws and snapped them and the sound of it was like rocks clashing, its great bony teeth grinding on air as it missed its mark. Asuka danced back, suddenly aware of the creature's main mode of attack- a bite from that terrible maw would shear off her arm, easily. Rei dropped the gun and backed off, retreating, and Asuka realized why- Unit Zero was the fire support unit, and they were in close combat now. It was all her.

She charged forward, arms spread wide, umbilical streaming out behind her, a lustful cry of rage ringing in her helmet. When she closed she dodged a snap of its jaws and ducked to the side, and it hit her instead, swinging its long snout against her. She grabbed it, threw her arm over the upper jaw like she was carrying a log under her arm, and held on as it swung again, drawing her back, digging deep trenches in the sand that tore up the planted grass and tiny signs that marked off the restricted beach, like tearing up the surface of a model train set. As she turned she aimed herself at where an animal's brain box would be and let go of one of the butterfly handles to rake her hand along the control panel and fire everything. The spike launchers went off first, a series of low successive whumps like firecrackers in a garbage can that she felt more than heard, and while a few of the long black spikes drove into its flesh, others slid off, making worthless superficial gouges or doing nothing at all. The missiles in the chest fired and burst against it, too close now, enough to clack her teeth together when they went off, and the thing was screaming and on fire and trying to work its jaws around to her.

It buried its feet, yanked her hard to the side, and then threw its huge weight into a full body turn that sent her sprawling back. For all the Eva's size the beach was like powder under her feet and suddenly she was pitched too far over, and the Eva was falling, falling. Her elbows hit and she heard a sickening crunch and it had to be the armor, because she didn't feel the lancing jolt of sympathetic pain from a bone break. She scrabbled away from the angel, digging her heels into the sand, and Shinji opened up on it with everything he had, raking its flanks with explosive shells from the launchers fixed to the forearms of Unit One, but it was like firing the shells into so much putty and they just blew out big craters in the thing's hide. For all that it ignored him. She'd been the one that hurt it, and so it closed its long jaws around Unit Two's leg, _her_ leg, and clamped down, hard.

Asuka was not one to cry out unnecessarily. Screaming, loss of focus, was the enemy of survival. Pain was the body's way of warning of danger, and that warning had to be _heeded_, but could not be allowed to control her. She tried, she desperately tried, but the teeth in those long scissors jaws parted the Eva's armor like paper and slid through the muscle of the living thing underneath and it was the sound of it, the scrape of tooth on bone, that made her let go of the handles, arch her back until she thought it would snap, and scream long and loud.

Shinji was moving, Unit One almost on all fours to stay steady, and she saw why. Mounted on his back was a great lumpen thing that looked like a backpack until the armor plating was hurled off by explosive bolts. Through the crushing, clenching haze of pain from the Eva's leg she saw the weapons system on his back unfold, two much heavier cannons that folded up over his shoulders and flanked the Eva's head, and a missile on the back that rose up on funny little arms that looked too small to hold it, and the tail end was smoking. He fell all the way forward and aimed his back right at the creature and the missile ignited, a too-big burst of white hot fire pouring out the end. Dimly, Asuka knew it was meant to be used at greater range than this. He hand to dance out of the way of his own weapon's thruster and still it scorched him, burning up part of the Eva's arm and side. Unit One covered her, and the angel tightened its grip and she felt bone cracking, splinters of fire worming up through her flesh as she shared its pain and screamed again even louder, her vision blurred with tears she could not blink away.

The explosion tore her out of its grip, pushed Shinji along with her, the Evas grinding against each other. For a second, a bare second, the Eva's leg was pulled through the creature's jaws as though it was a man eating a wing of chicken, stripping meat away with teeth, and the sensation of it, the feeling of her flesh being scoured from her bone in a single clean sweep, taught her a new definition of agony, and she realized her screams had formed words, secret words from somewhere within her that broke loose before she knew they were trying to help.

"_Momma!" _she screamed, in a high, thin, reedy little girl's voice, "_Momma it _hurts!"

Shinji was getting up. The blast had torn the thing up, and its foreleg had collapsed under it, but wasn't severed, and it was _healing. _Asuka screamed and screamed, watching as the flesh drew back down around the bone, as the vast creature's pasty pale body closed up and then Unit One was straining and struggling, picking up her Evangelion like a newlywed and pushing away, half dragging her over the ground as he struggled to get her up into the air so he could run. She looked and saw that the right leg of Unit Two was a mangled mess, the thigh denuded of flesh to show pale bone and the calf twisted from being pulled through the angel's jaws, bent at all wrong angles, and she screamed again, and her scream came out garbled in hitching sobs and every other breath was another _Mama, mama please. _

Then, there was Rei. As the angel turned towards her again, as if she had somehow personally offended it. Unit Zero moved in a weird, janky way, something almost clinical in Rei's manner, imparted through the Evangelion. She scooped up the rifle, adjusted something on it -the exact function of it was outside Asuka's purview, as the close combat specialist- pressed the barrel into the angels' flesh and pulled the trigger, and the welling _ker-whump_ came out flattened and bloated and the gun exploded in a single great blast, snapping in two pieces that spun out of Rei's hands. The angel stumbled, a new rent blown in its flesh, and turned around. It snapped at Unit Zero but its jaws were too long, and she was close. It bowled her off her feet instead.

She saw Shinji's face in her HUD, his eyes darting back at forth, looking at them, he realized. Asuka couldn't see herself but she knew what she must look like. Rei was calm, stoic, her face a mask, but Asuka another look and in the perfect clarity brought on by a combination of adrenaline and _my leg, oh please my leg_, she saw the liquid fear in the other girl's eyes, the desperation. Asuka managed to croak, pained by the dryness in her own throat.

"Get Rei," she said. _Commanded._

"But-"

Akagi's voice cut in. "_Shinji! _Give Rei fire support until she can fall back, then get the hell out of there! _Now!_"

He looked dazed, like he was waking from a dream. Shinji opened up on the angel, and the rumble of his guns and the flash filled Asuka's vision with little purple splotches until her optics adjusted. Rei was scrambling up, almost on her feet, when the angel shifted enough to her arm and she screamed, her reserve broken. Rei may have been unsure of her emotions but her body knew how to show pain and fear and she thrashed in her plug, grabbing her arm and screaming, _screaming_.

"Rei!" Shinji screamed, his voice raw. "Rei, leave it! _Teleport out!" _

Her eyes flew open and there was a flash in her plug, and sudden Unit Zero went boneless, the Eva just fell to the ground. The angel gave it a triumphant shake and, somehow knowing she was gone, swung its head to shove the now inert Evangelion out of the way and storm after them. Shinji had her up now and he had to fire the explosive bolts on his back and drop his secondary fire support unit, and it crashed to the ground. Liberated of the weight on his back, Unit Two slipped over his shoulder and he lifted the Eva in a fireman's carry, pushing her up over the ground and sprinting up the beach in a single motion, his face twisting from pain as the shock of carrying all that weight slammed up Unit One's legs.

Again she heard Akagi's voice, like she was shouting through water, thick and distant. "Cycle his arc reactor up to maximum! Shinji, _run!"_

He didn't need to be told. The Eva lifted up over the rise, just a bare step to something so tall, really, and Asuka saw the world swinging under her, saw Unit One's shadow clear an overpass. Shinji's foot clipped it and the whole works came down in a crash, the puff of debris like a dust bunny compared to the Eva. Somewhere in the murk of pain, she heard Shinji mutter an apology as he turned for a low place between the hills. She could barely see the angel, its bulk appearing in her peripheral vision here and there as she swung, slung over his back, but it wasn't like a crocodile. Crocodiles were fast, but over a short distance. This thing adapted to the land perfectly, and was galloping after them at speed, and it was _closing. _Terrible, horrible realization flooded through her and she felt the phantom crush of jaws on her leg once more, imagined those jaws closing on her again, on her other leg, on her arms, on her chest to crush the life out of her and she begged through the tears, she wanted to go home, she wanted her _momma_.

Light filled her vision. A chain of explosions poured over the angel, and there was a crackle in her helmet- someone had broken into their channel.

"This is the Latverian Sixth Fleet. We have engaged the angel."

* * *

_Oh God_, Ritsuko thought, _they're going to die_. The kids, the kids were going to die. She gripped the railing so hard it hurt, regretted this, regretted all of it, cursed God for putting her here, for making her witness this, for making her _responsible _for it. Her inner voice chided her. Kill it. That was her whole plan, kill it. Now it was going to kill the kids. Asuka screaming was the worst thing she'd ever heard. It cut through her flesh and bones into her soul and left a mark there, and when she heard the little girl screaming for her mother she lost it, pitching backwards and choking back her gorge, and she told them to _run, to get out of there_.

Shinji's grim face filled a quadrant of the screen. He went all out, and Ritsuko had Maya spin his reactor up to one hundred and ten percent of the safe limit to give him enough juice to really _run,_ and it wasn't enough. He was pushing a land speed record and it was still gaining on him, and then the explosions came, a chain of blasts that confused the angel more than hurt it, made it spin and topple through the hills, its huge bulk unable to compensate as it was set upon from above. The blasts filled the screen and made the darkened command center as bright as day for a moment, and Ritsuko shielded her eyes.

"What the _fuck_ was that?"she barked, rushing back to the railing.

The crackling voice came a moment later. "This is the Latverian Sixth Fleet. We have engaged the angel."

"Fleet? What flee…"

Hyuga started and brought up the radar, then visuals from the remote cameras. They weren't out on the ocean, they were _in the air_. A ring of ships surrounded three gargantuan wedges that tooled slowly through the sky, and with a start she realized what she was seeing. Helicarriers. Goddamn helicarriers, three of them. Their dazzle-painted underbellies were marked clearly- _Indomitable, Invincible, _and, weirdly, _Kyoko_. The other flying ships moved in tight formation around them, tiny shapes moving between them. After a moment Ritsuko realized what she was seeing- fighter jets, taking off and firing volleys of missiles at the angel. They filled the sky, and more of the smaller support vessels were shimmering out of thin air.

"They have _cloaking devices?"_ Ritsuko gasped.

"It doesn't matter," Fuyutsuki said, quietly. "They can't breach the AT-Field."

"It's not manifesting it," said Maya. "It's just shrugging off the blasts."

The show wasn't over. Two of the helicarriers bobbed in the air, and their bellies opened, great doors dropping down from beneath like inverted coffins. Something enormous dropped out of them, trailed by flares, and the rest of the fleet spread out to let them by. Ritsuko's eyes widened, and she felt her knees going to jelly as she watched two Evangelions drop out of the helicarriers and glide forward on unfolding wings from their backs. They bore a superficial resemblance to Unit Two, but more streamlined and heavier, and fixed to their backs were sets of rocket boosters, and their arms were locked in position, held out in front of them and mounted with some kind of cannons. Their boosters fired and they both burst forward with a sudden shock that made Ritsuko's stomach jump, and the air curled up around them, on the edge of a sonic boom.

"What the _hell _are those?" Ritsuko shouted. "Maya, see if you can-"

"They're already on our channel!" Maya blurted, pushing back from her terminal.

A pair of faces appeared on screen, settling in neatly next to Shinji and the pale, disoriented visage of Asuka. One was a girl and one was a boy, the girl with an eerily beautiful face, light blonde hair peaking around the edge of the faceplate on her helmet, and the most striking green eyes. The boy had a strong jaw and dark brown eyes, and it wasn't until he spoke that Ritsuko place him, by his accent- Arab, maybe Egyptian, flavored with a little British.

"Maria Vincennes, pilot of Evangelion Mark One," said the girl.

"Rashid Carrington, pilot of Evangelion Mark Two," said the boy.

Ritsuko felt dizzy. "We need your help. We have to draw the angel away from the other pilots."

"Affirmative," the girl -_Maria_- chirped. "Beginning strafing run. Let's go, Rash."

Maya looked up at her. "Rash?" she mouthed.

Ritsuko gave her a confused shrug. She turned over her shoulder, and Fuyutsuki looked as blindsided as she was. She flinched when she saw the radar on the big screen- there was a _lot_ of metal in the air just then, quite a lot, and a second strafing run was starting on the angel while the new Evas moved in. Ritsuko thought of the barely started Unit 03 and the scout type she was building for Hikari and swallowed, hard, doing calculations in her head for a moment to see how far she could stretch the budget to get the scout series online faster, and her gaze snapped back to Asuka and Shinji. The former was in absolute shock, staring straight ahead with big blue eyes that were weirdly piercing and made Ritsuko feel a little guilty for thinking of the girl as an arrogant bitch, and Shinji trucked on, his jaw set grimly as he slowed the Eva.

"Spin down his reactor," Ritsuko called. "We don't want him to blow out the primaries."

The angel had stopped in its tracks and turned to face the new threat, its long finned tail swinging with strange slowness as it turned and ground its claws into the earth to slow its approach. The flying Evas dipped low and strafed it with a rain of exploding shells that pockmarked its back, moving in lazy, too-wide banks; regardless of their capability they clearly weren't meant to fly. The angel snapped at them but missed and bellowed again, and Ritsuko felt a shiver run down her spine when she heard the sound. It swept through her body and jangled her teeth and she hated it, _hated it, _and it filled her with rage to hear it.

* * *

Everything was happening at once. _Evas. More Evas._ She had no idea, how could she? She barely spoke with anyone at home, only made regular reports that mostly consisted of her snapping a few terse sentences to her father, without any warmth or irrelevant details. No one had told her that more Evangelions were under construction because she had no need to know. Tactical matters were her concern, strategy and logistics were not. As she stared at the weaving ground and listened to Shinji's heavy, tired breathing the agony in her leg spiked again and she whimpered.

"Break it," Akagi said, this time only to her, on a private channel. "Asuka, drop synch. You're out of the fight, you need medical attention."

She felt like she was floating. "Where… where is Rei?"

Akagi blinked- Asuka could _hear_ the confusion in her voice. "She's fine, she must have known where the recovery team would be. We've got her." The surprise in her voice was naked, but Asuka hurt too much to remember to be insulted.

She never imagined there could be pain like this. Every movement made it worse, like it was creeping up her leg, army ants under her skin chewing away all her nerves. She reached for the covered switch that would sever her mental connection to the Eva- it would be painful to do it that way, just cut herself off like that, might even knock her out, but it hurt so much her vision blurred and her hand trembled as she reached for the switch.

_No._

"What did you say?"

"Abort, Asuka. I know it hurts, but you have to concentrate. It'll be worse if we sever-"

Asuka ignored her, let her prattle on. "I heard you," she murmured. The pain was different now, muted.

_Don't leave me yet._

"I won't," she said.

"Asuka, please, your heart rate is too high," said Akagi. "Your body temperature is rising. You're going to flare up and melt the plug. You have to listen to me."

_No, I don't_, she thought, _I'm a princess._

_That's right, _the voice replied, clear and crisp in her mind. _A very special princess_. _The princess of the whole world._

She smiled stupidly. She felt like she was floating, and the pain seemed a distant thing, a memory, and as memories of pain are it wasn't so intense.

_I hurt my footie_, she thought, and she wasn't sure if she said it aloud or not.

_I know, my princess. You'll be fine. It's not really hurt._

Listening to the voice was dreamy, comforting. She felt warm, felt something like arms closing around her, but they couldn't be arms, they were too big. She felt herself rocking independent of the movement of the plug. The pain flared again and she stifled a little cry. She was getting tears all in her helmet and it was fogging it up, and it made her mad, and then she felt stupid for being mad about something so silly. The pain ebbed and flowed, like someone was grasping it and pulling it away, but like a snake it slipped and struck at her again. She heard explosions and shouting, and Shinji looked like he was in trouble. He looked scared. The world was tilting.

_It hurts_, she thought, _it hurts so bad_.

_I know,_ the voice said back, _I was hurt once, too. _

_I can't see you._

She wanted to see the voice. She thought it was familiar, warm. It didn't want to hurt her. She liked it. She liked feeling warm; temperature usually had very little meaning for her. She curled up on the seat, drawing her knees up to her chest, and turned sideways in the seat, but she didn't feel that or the armor plating on her suit or her helmet anymore. A pair of huge arms were cradling her like a baby and she grasped at the LCL in the plug, trying to touch the bearer of those arms, but it was like reaching for someone on the other side of a wide canyon. Something in that made her sob.

Shinji was shooting, and he was screaming. She forced her eyes open. The angel was on them. He'd fallen, and it was snapping at him. He dragged her out of the way and took a hit to the side, and she heard it, _crunch_, as Unit One's armor folded and the creature within the Evangelion let out a sound that came out muffled through the bolted shut jaws of its mask-helmet. The angel had broken its ribs, and to Shinji it was his ribs that were broken, but he didn't show it on his face.

"Asuka," he groaned, "Asuka, stay awake."

"I don't want to," she said, dreamily resting in someone's arms. "I don't want to."

It was all so simple. The others had cast off their flying gear -some strange part of her was jealous that their Evas could fly and hers couldn't, but that thought seemed alien and unnatural now- and were fighting it on the ground. Reinforcements. They'd take care of it. She could go to sleep. She wanted to so badly, but Shinji was bugging her. Stupid Shinji was always bugging her. She was mad at him, now. She thought he was shaking her, and yelling in her ear.

She forced her eyes open a bit to see what he was so upset about.

Oh. The other Evas weren't winning. Not yet, anyway. There was another girl. Asuka could see her face in her entry plug. She had blonde hair and green eyes, but Asuka didn't know her. There was a boy and Asuka didn't know him either. If there were others training to be pilots, why had she never seen or met them? It didn't matter now. They were falling back, and they were trying to move Shinji and Asuka. She felt a hand squeezing her arm and realized it was the Eva's arm being squeezed. The angel was close now, and its jaws were very big and very large and she knew it hated her.

_Don't let it get me. It's a monster. Don't let the monster get me_.

_I won't._

She heard a noise, then, a great thump. _Boom_. Then again. _Boom,_ and again, _Boom_, faster now, _Boom-Boom, Boom-Boom…_

* * *

Maya turned around. "I'm getting some _really _weird readings from Unit Two," she said, her breath hitching.

Ritsuko tensed. She really needed to find Maya a less stressful job. "What kind of weird? Good weird, or bad weird?"

"The synchrograph is… I think it's reversing. I think…"

"Berserker," Ritsuko breathed.

She looked at the screen. The four Evas- the angel treated Unit Zero as if it didn't exist after Rei jumped out- were falling back, the new newcomers dragging Shinji and Asuka back, carving a path of destruction as they did. The angel had been slowed down somewhat by the ordinance, and still wasn't deploying its AT-Field, but it had only slowed down enough to be reaching the Evas at a slow, ominously easy pace, as if it had all the time in the world to rip them apart, and somehow it knew it. As it moved it made more sounds, higher now, keening, and they set Ritsuko's teeth on edge. She felt a sudden sharp twist in her back and nearly doubled over.

"Akagi?" said Fuyutsuki, standing up.

"I'm _fine," _Ritsuko said sharply.

Her hand was in her pocket reaching for the bottle of codeine, but she pulled it away and clenched it into a fist.

"Ma'am," said Hyuga.

"_What?"_ Ritsuko snapped.

He swallowed, his throat bobbing hard. "I just got word from Odo Island. They said those noises it's making…"

Ritsuko clenched her teeth. "Spit it out, Hyuga."

"It's moving. The… anomaly has broken the first containment ring, and it's headed for the mainland. It appears to be responding to the angel's vocalizations."

"You have to be _kidding me_," she groaned, clutching her head. "Do we have cameras out there?"

"The sat feed. I can get down to-"

"Whatever, just _let me see it." _

A second shape was emerging from the ocean, not too far from the first. The satellite feed was eerie- it was like looking down on a child's playset, and everything was weirdly distorted, too bright. She saw the shape moving through the water with a slow trudging pace, and saw the great head of the beast rising from the waves with a purposeful grimace, and when the angel called out again, the… _anomaly_ replied with a terrible sound like a blade scraping over strings, that rang in the air, met the other sound and mingled with it. She turned around and looked at Fuyutsuki.

"Get the UN on the line, and the prime minister, and see if the Latverians will answer you. We need everything they've got. The Godzilla Protocol is in effect."


	17. The Folly of Man

_The Sixth Angel is at hand. After the bizarre terror of Ramiel, the creature that emerged from the sea looked simple enough to defeat, but its massive size and surprisingly quick movements made it easy for the pilots to fall prey to it. Asuka and Unit Two took the brunt of the attack, as Asuka__'s berserk fury was met by the creature's insane strength. Due to its sheer mass, it was able to shrug off blow after blow and disable the Evas one by one, until Rei was forced to Eject and Shinji forced to carry the badly damaged Unit Two out of the fight in hopes of regrouping and establishing a second line of defense. _

_It was then that the Latverian air fleet appeared, distracting the angel with an air bombardment and deploying two new, never-before-seen Evangelions, the __"Mark 01", and "Mark 02", closely patterned after Unit Two- production models. Piloted by newcomers Maria Vincennes and Rashid Carrington, the new Evas took up the fight, giving Shinji time to escape. _

_In the plug, wracked by pain from the Eva__'s injuries, Asuka became wrapped up in conversation with a mysterious voice that began to take over the Eva. _

_Back Central Dogma, Ritsuko and the command staff were blindsided by the sudden appearance of reinforcements- and news that the angel__'s strange vocalizations, which seem to provoke rage in whoever hears them, had awakened an ancient, terrible power- the King of the Monsters would answer the angel's challenge. At the same time, Unit Two was beginning to go berserk…_

* * *

"**THE FOLLY OF MAN"**

* * *

Shinji's head was pounding and he tasted iron. The flow on his upper lip had dried and gone sticky again, wetted by a fresh nosebleed. The world around him was turning savagely. One moment, Unit Two- Asuka- was over his shoulder and he was running for his life. The next, the Eva was straining free of his grip, and sent him toppling to the ground in a heap with her. He heard, and felt, every collision of armor plating as the great crimson beast pulled free of him. To his utter shock, the Eva's shredded leg, which was a mass of torn meat and gristle and broken armor plating and tubes spewing various fluids, was knitting together- the organics were, anyway. The pale blubbery bloodless flesh of the thing that lived in the armor was pulling itself back together, sealing around the iron-rich, black bones of it.

He was on all fours- he had, some time ago, lost the distinction in his thought between the Evangelion and his own body, and he was no longer turning _his_ head, but lying in the cradling pilot's seat, staring straight ahead as the Eva did that for him, its movements taking on a subtle, haunting resemblance to his own. His synch ratio was displayed in the corner of his helmet HUD and he ignored it, looking past the clutter of mechanalia to what was going on outside. Everything was hell, and Unit Two was starting to catch on fire.

He heard something, then, a terrible sound- not the keening of the stomping beast that had risen out of the ocean and savaged Asuka, for some reason favoring her over the others- a high, almost melodious sound, beautiful in its discordance and alien, like some maniac sliding iron claws over the strings of a massive, tightly wound instrument. The sound soaked into his bones and through the psychic link with the Eva, and bounced back as if the beast in the machine agreed with him, whispered back _I heard it, too_. He looked over the smoking, crawling ruin of Unit Two and saw.

The sky had gone dark- flying machines, flying _ships, _fighters, the clunky, awkward looking VTOLs that were too heavy and cumbersome to fly, but clawed their way into the air with huge turbines anyway. The ships looked too huge, too massive to take to the air, and yet they hung their anyway- great triangular beasts with flight decks on their backs and great doors on their bellies, two of which stood open to drop the new Evangelions that hit the ground running, coasting out of the air on some kid of flight pack. They took up position in front of Asuka, blocking the angel from seeking her, or him, and for that he was as grateful as he was confused. He finally tore his concentration from the chaos in front of him long enough to assess his situation.

The numbing pain he felt in his legs was not his- Unit One had blown out several of the control circuits in his legs, overloaded them as he pushed them to the limit and drew on everything his reactor could give him. He was supposed to have twenty minutes of power once the umbilicus dropped but he was down to seven now, despite running for what felt like no time at all. The strain of carrying another Eva and the speed had done that. He'd almost felt the wind in his face, heard it whistling through the Eva's joints. His fingers tightened around the butterfly switches and he felt primal, savage, _angry_. The angel made that high pitched wailing sound once again and fury exploded in the back of his head, fury matched by the Eva. He felt the control bolts in its chest tightening, pressing on the creature inside as though reminding if of its place. He remembered the first battle he fought and liquid fear surged through him, icy and clinging to his bones. The distant, discordant sound came again, and he knew something was coming- and Asuka was getting up.

What he saw he did not fully understand. Smoke curled around the armor plating on Unit Two's hands, poured out in a dark blue- the magic blue smoke, Ritsuko had called it once, as she worked on the Eva and thought no one heard. It was what wires and their insulation and connections released when they became too hot. Some part of him thought to look at the display on his screen- he couldn't see Asuka anymore, only static, and then it switched over to a blank space that said SOUND ONLY but there was no sound. He saw her vitals- her heart was going like a hummingbird and her body temperature read 200 before the signal from Unit Two winked out completely, and yet it was still moving. Smoke poured out of the enormous jack where the umbilicus attached, curling about her back like wings, and the edges of the armor plating on the Eva's torso went red from heat, not from the laser-scattering paint. She stood up, swaying, and turned to face the angel.

The new Evas, these newcomers that had identified themselves as Latverian a million years ago, were attacking the creature, and they were faring no better than Asuka and Shinji had, no better than Rei. It was too _big_, so enormous that the massive damage their weapons were doing to its pale flesh left nothing but smoking holes in its wake. The Evas were twins- he could see a superficial similarity to Unit Two; it was the Production Model, after all, but they were sleeker, less bulky in places, their head smoother, more artificial looking, their pylons smaller and of different design. They had abandoned the modular weapons they carried with them, after seeing how little was their worth. Shinji started towards them, keeping an eye on his reactor- he had perhaps two minutes, and then he'd have insufficient power to get back to the base without an umbilicus, and furthest connection point was behind him, away from the fight.

The new pilots were on his channel- a girl and a boy, his age. The girl had green eyes and he saw scraps of blonde hair poking around the edges of her face, pressed down by her helmet. The boy had olive skin and strong features, and dark eyes that remained steadily focused. They were going hand to hand, lashing out at the angel with their prog knives while they danced out of the way of its snapping jaws- if the angel's jaws had simply been shorter, it would have had them easily, but in close it couldn't turn so well on its stubby legs. It could, however, swing its long balancing tail.

He didn't know which Eva was hit until the girl cried out through clenched teeth, green eyes blazing in concentration. Shinji was on her. He hooked Unit One's hands under the Eva's arms and dragged her back, digging a deep trench in the fields and tearing loose a section of road as he did, just in time to spare her a thundering impact from the angel's tail, falling down with such force that it would have snapped her Eva's spine in half, maybe killed her outright. The Eva moved lightly and she was on her feet again.

"Out of my way," she snapped, staring at him. "Amateur."

Blinking, Shinji stepped back. His counter had run further down- the palladium core of his reactor was less efficient the more it was consumed, and he'd lost another thirty seconds. Weighing his option, looking at the hunched, smoking form of Unit Two, he made up his mind and fell back, running, not so fast this time- they'd limited him to seventy percent now. He saw the connection point in the distance, a weirdly huge pylon sitting by itself outside the circumference of the city, and sent a signal to it to open with the push of a button. Unit One had strained to carry Asuka and the arms ground in protest as he awkwardly picked up the connector and brought it around to his back.

He felt it slide in- an eerie, hateful sensation, actually feeling the metal prongs sink into his back. The feeling of the locking bolts clasping it into place was like something moving under his spine. Unit Two was standing now, and wreathed in dark smoke around the head and shoulders, some still pouring out of the leg and arm joints; its lower leg was fully healed, and Asuka was silent, a terrifying black monolith on the communications panel in his HUD.

"You," the blonde-haired girl demanded, "The prototype pilot. Can you raise the Princess?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, her comms cut out more than a minute ago."

"Speak to your people. Have her ejected. She's in our way."

Shinji was about to do just that. He called out for Ritsuko, suddenly wondering why Asuka hadn't already been ejected, when he glanced to his right and saw a shape rising over the far hill, moving in swaying steps that sent shockwaves through the earth and made the high tension wires sway in graceful swells. All the communications bands went silent, save for the two new pilots, who spoke to each other in clipped, professional commands, in the eerily calm way that fighter pilots are trained to do to prevent confusion. Everyone else had gone utterly quiet, watching the ancient monster now cresting the hill- so enormous it stood head and shoulders over an Eva, more, so big that when its foot came down on the hill in a great splayed claw it crushed through the wires and reshaped the hill entirely, and left a deep mud-cratered footprint behind that swelled with the seawater streaming from the great beast's dark body. It should have been ungainly- moving on hugely muscled hindquarters, a forest of armored plates swaying on its back, each rimmed in a strange nimbus of light, its shockingly intelligent eyes scanning the horizon, and yet it moved with a purposeful grace. When it saw the angel it leaned forward, opened its tooth jaws, and _screamed_.

Closer now, the sound ran through him like a blade. The angel turned, and it caught one of the black Evas in the movement- it was the boy that went sprawling now, and the girl was pulling him back. Her look of professional concentration and the cruel appraisal in her eyes was gone, replaced by something older, more instinctive. She was afraid. Shinji saw the scene and understood why, and then the angel let loose with its hideous vocalization once more, the sound rising in challenge to the great monster king bearing down on it. Their cries met and fused somewhere in Shinji's hindbrain, in some ancient place where the fear of scaly and scuttling things and sharp teeth reigned supreme, and he felt his bowels turn to water and resisted the urge to flee, to just run in a flat out panic. The Eva, suddenly distinct, almost calm now, was a bulwark and held him back, and something seemed to push back through the synchronization, bubble up through the back of his head and press his hands back into fists around the controls.

Shinji pushed the handles forward and leaned into it as Unit One went back to the fight. He was just in time to see Unit Two rear up to its full height, calmly reach up, and tear open its helmet, ripping loose the segment that covered the inner creature's mouth. It belched out a gout of flame and smoke and cried out, adding its voice to the others. The SOUND ONLY panel on his HUD flickered, and vanished.

Unit Two went dark completely.

* * *

When Rei heard the sound, she stiffened. There was something in it, something fearful, yes, but there was more than that. She felt, in her body, two reactions at once. One was exceedingly natural, almost primal- it frightened her, scared her as she stood on the beach in a way that made her hitch up, forced her to focus on not teleporting somewhere, anywhere but here, leaping out of the universe to get away from those sounds. She saw flashes and heard the distant sound of reports, and she saw the great sky-ships shimmering into being over her head. Unit Zero lay on her side some distance away, and there was a chopper thumping towards her, coming in low over the sands, whipping them into a tiny sandstorm that stung her skin. Rei looked at them and listened for the sounds again, and then ducked behind a clump of grass. Carefully, she closed her helmet around her head, and closed her eyes.

Even with the helmet on, the stink shot up her nose, making her cough. As always, it was over before it really started- she was one place and then she was another, first standing on the beach and then sitting in the pilot's seat- the process, though, was not so gentle. The sudden change made her stomach clench and her head swam as she arrived in the plug. Her arm still flared with phantom pain and she flexed it, forcing her mind to know what her body did not, that she was intact and it was someone else, some other body that hurt. She made herself start the emergency field start procedure with her bad arm, flipping the switches to dump reserve LCL out of the recycling tank back into the plug. As it filled with a hollow drumming sound, she ran through the pre-launch checklist, resetting switches. The reactor was still good for fifteen minutes, and she had to use it. She jacked the cable into the back of her helmet herself, pulled the safety hardness around her body, and started the synch process.

As soon as she made contact with the Eva, pain lanced up her arm and she ground her teeth and the connection broke. She let out a hoarse gasp and did it again this time, forcing her body to accept her mangled new limb. As the information from the Eva poured into her brain, she held the controls tightly in both hands, focusing on the feel of grips through her gloves. It made her synch dip precipitously- she would barely be able to move, at least at first- but it worked, and once the connection was right and properly established, it would be easier to hold on to. Carefully, she rolled the Eva onto its back, wincing at the phantom shooters of pain from the wounded arm.

Akagi came on the comms band. "Rei? What the _hell _are you doing?"

Rei ignored her, a stab of shame in her chest as she did. She used the Eva's good arm to grab the wounded one and pull it across her torso, then with a gritting of her teeth closed the wounded arm's hand around her side. As she turned her attention away from it, it held, and she sat up, streamers of beach sand and sea water falling from the Eva's side as she moved. Getting up was awkward, and every movement sent painful jolts through her. Once she was on her knees she just had to get one foot after another under her and stand up, but it proved no mean feat and she ended up swaying, the sand sliding under Unit Zero's armored feet. She looked down at her weapon- she didn't need diagnostics to know the fusion cannon was done, it had been blown in half, the barrel melted halfway down its length and the internals blown out on the beach, like the guts of some silvery monster. Whatever she could add to the fight, she would do without it.

She turned and stepped up over the dunes, carefully digging her feet in for purchase until the ground hardened, letting her body sway a little with the Eva's jerky, drunken movements. She felt nauseous, but choked it back, tasting bile in her mouth. She drew closer, and she saw a scene out of nightmares, something that took her a moment to comprehend. Her first thought was _angel_, but the other creature that bore down on her enemy was not that- older, more, for lack of a better word, natural. It belonged here, the angel did not. The great scaly beast reared up and a strange alarm went off in Rei's helmet, one she had never seen before- three wedges, shaped inwards around a circle. She blinked, the pain in the Eva momentarily forgotten, and remembered it from her training. Radiological alert.

The beast rose up, and its body thrummed with energy- even here she could feel it, and its back flashed, light playing along the swaying armor plating that forested its back, growing brighter and brighter until it opened its mouth and loosed a steady stream of light that left a purple blotch in her vision when she turned her head away from it. The angel _wailed_ and stumbled, curling its body around the impact, twisting, and the slicing beam of energy played over its back and kept going, stretching over the open fields for a moment and touching off everything it touched- the power lines sagged as their towers folded inwards, the roads buckled, the grass evaporated and the earth beneath it went to hard pack and cracked open like a desert landscape and then finally shone with hints of glass when the beam was gone.

The angel turned, and Rei gasped- its body was badly damaged, a smoking blackened burn over its flank and along its back, exposing strangely shiny bones that sparkled with the minerals laced through them. There was a sudden, shocking melee as everything broke loose. The two black Evas -which she had barely noticed- fell back, scrambling almost comically. Shinji was changing into the fight, rigged up with a new power supply, and Unit Two…

Unit Two was _glowing_. Waves of heat shimmered around it as it moved, tongues of flame licking around the edges of its armor plating as the heat ate the paint, which sloughed off in streams of hot white ash and followed it in the wind, like warm breath on a cold day. It moved with a strange, deadly purpose, the _shape_ of its movements different somehow, different in their flavor, as if von Doom were no longer in control of it, but not in the hideous, feral way Unit One had when it went out of control. It engaged the angel as the lumbering beast drew closer, screaming its discordant scraped-string scream, moving faster now. It turned, planting its broad clawed feet wide, and swung its tail.

The angel was hit on the side and it and Unit Two both were thrown off their feet. Rei felt a sickening spike in her stomach- the angel landed on top of Unit Two, which was crawling out from under it- and leaving scorch marks in the angel's flesh as it dragged itself out from under it. Shinji was coming, heedless of the danger, but when he drew near his eyes widened and he stumbled back, holding up the Eva's arms as if they were their own- the reaction of a man suddenly exposed to intense heat. She switched from normal optics to thermals, and there was only a white blotch, centered on the black shape of Unit Two. When she switched back, she saw fire curling around the Eva's steps as it pulled its way free and stood up. The angel seemed to ignore it…

…and whether it was von Doom or the Eva itself, the hulking, smoking form of the Evangelion moved with fury, as though slighted. It scoured the angel's back with fingers that glowed with heat, _burning _through its flesh, digging through it. The angel made its dread sound again and Rei felt it as she moved forward, felt it deeply as she slowed, stopped, watched, the pain in the Unit Zero's arm now some distant, throbbing thing, like loud angry music on the other side of a thick wall. She was too busy watching.

The angel's posture changed, and flaring shapes of orange light boomed into being around it, throwing Unit Two back. The smoking Eva fell on its backside, and when it got up the ground was broken glass from the heat. Rei became sure it was not the von Doom girl piloting now at all- the movements of the Eva were sure, _willful_ somehow, and it strode into the AT-Field with terrible purpose, and another field thrummed to life, the Evas own, with such intensity that Rei felt it, despite the range. The other Evas stumbled backwards, and she heard the pilots' confused shouts over the communications channel. The power of it was shocking- with only her reactor and her poor synch, Rei could never have matched it, yet Unit Two was unbound and out of power, according to her screen, not functioning at all.

Unit Two threw a punch that did not so much strike the angel as sink into it, the glowing fist melting and burning its way through flabby flesh. The angel moved and dragged the Eva with it, cutting smoking tracks in the ground. The scaled beast drew nearer, charging, but somehow not in a hurry. When it neared the angel reared up, and they met with a titanic crash that Rei felt in her chest even as the impact shocked its way up through her legs. The giants wrestled and Unit Two was cast back, landing with spread feet and open arms, balanced and quick and back in the fight. The alarms blared again and Rei saw the flash, closing her eyes more quickly this time. When she opened them the angel was still fighting, even as its innards hung from its broad flabby belly in smoking ropes. Rei retched, choking back to keep from vomiting in her helmet- it was not so much seeing the thing's insides that horrified her, but the _wrongness_ of them. She was no expert on anatomy but the angel's organs looked fundamentally incorrect somehow, bad imitations of the real thing, just flesh shaped in mimicry of something it didn't really need.

A thought flashed in her mind- the core, it would not die until the core was destroyed. As if her insight had reminded it, its wounds began to knit closed again, drawing on a deep reserve of energy. Unit Two noticed, too. It looked, and then looked over its shoulder- at her. Rei flinched, _feeling_ that gaze on her, feeling through it some powerful will that had overpowered pilot and Eva both, and then it turned back to its task.

It grabbed the angel's jaws, one in each hand, digging its smoldering fingers into the flesh until they scraped on unnatural bone and hooked there, and with a great flexing of its back the Eva spread them apart, opening them wide, to the limits of its reach. Rei's breath caught as she saw the great beast look between them at the Eva- what she at first took to be some immense, mindless animal looked at the Evangelion with a weirdly alien spark of intelligence- reptile intelligence, alien intelligence, the intelligence of quick, predatory economy that grew from the cleverness needed to find and kill prey and survive in the wild.

Godzilla shoved his head in the angel's mouth, opened his fanged jaws, and lit up like the sun. The plates on his back flared first, lightning dancing between them, and grew brighter and brighter until he vomited light into the angel, and it poured through it- Rei saw its skeleton outlined, like an X-Ray in one of the cartoons Toji watched when he thought no one was looking. The creature jerked and spasmed, and then as the light faded a great vomitous gout of thick back blood and crystal shards poured from its mouth, pouring down over its flanks, and it went still, deflating as it did, looking hollow as its flesh went taught around its arching ribs, tightened into rising and falling knots on its back around its bones. It fell to the side.

Unit Two stood, staring at it, wreathed in smoke and ash and rimmed here and there with red heat. It took two steps back, turned around, took another step, and fell flat on its face with a great, boneless crunch.

Shinji was yelling and Rei hadn't even heard him. "What do we do? What do we do?" he said, over and over. "What do we do?"

"Don't engage it!" Ritsuko shouted back, her voice hoarse.

Rei tensed, felt herself clench up. She could do nothing but run; she would be torn apart. Shinji looked to panic, desperation plain on his face.

"What do we do?" Shinji demanded again, his voice trembling.

"Just stay calm. I have this."

Rei blinked- that was a new voice. Toji's sister?

"Everybody stay calm. Let's not start something we don't want to finish," Sakura said, from a SOUND ONLY panel. "I'm talking to him."

"_What?__"_ Shinji said, his voice even tighter now.

It looked at her, the beast from the seas, looked right at Rei, then turned, moving towards the waters. It moved in no particular hurry, yet with no particular slowness, going about its business with the air of something that knows it is unmatched. When it touched the water the water steamed around it, and with a shocking swiftness it was gone, leaving them alone. Rei reached for the shutdown lever, ready to break synch and free herself of the Eva's pain, but hesitated.

The Latverian pilot- the girl, with the blonde hair, spoke very calmly- "Nerv personnel. Do not approach Unit Two or its pilot, or you will be fired upon."

Rei heard Ritsuko's voice as clear as a bell. "Bull_shit.__"_

* * *

There was a time for the preservation of pretenses and useful fictions, and this was not one of them. Ritsuko made the cut-throat motion to shut off all the communications channels to Maya, and the command center went absolutely nuts. Hyuga was shouting something about helicarriers, and Aoba was announcing in shrill tones that the Latverian Evangelions were moving into what was clearly an attack formation, moving to cut off Shinji and Rei before they could regroup, and Maya was starting to… bulge, straining at her uniform as she announced that the Latverian ships had locked their weapons on Shinji's umbilical cable.

"Everybody _shut up,__"_ Ritsuko barked, her voice carrying across Central Dogma with shocking force. "I'm going out there."

"What do you-" Fuyutsuki started to say, but she cut him off.

"Magi! Deploy."

The old man jerked to the side as the cargo elevator at the corner of the upper deck dropped down, and her suit came roaring out, stopped with a _huff_ of repulsor bursts, and dropped down. She shrugged out of her labcoat, yanked her sweatshirt over her head, and kicked out of her loose pants, revealing her undersuit- complete with the row of glowing discs on her back. The suit closed around her, folding onto her back and connecting right into her spine, and somehow it felt _good_, better for the pain than a dozen pills and a half a bottle of hard stuff. As it locked in place she felt whole again, and stood up straighter, lifting her feet so the boot sections could deploy properly as the helmet closed around her face. She turned back to Fuyutsuki, towering over him now.

"I'll be on the encrypted channel."

"I don't think-" he started, but Ritsuko ignored him.

She took off- up, into the vents, nearly clipping a few of the corners before she emerged into the cages. From there she could follow the same tubes the Evas used to the surface, and she could kick it, and she did, pushing her toes down hard on the plates in her boots until the suit's systems compensated and brought the back thrusters on line, too- Hikari wouldn't be riding shotgun on this one. Her stomach sloshed as she made the twists and turns through the tube, and she was blinded for a bare second before the suit compensated, tinting the world a dark green to match her HUD overlays. She was still a fair distance from the site of the battle, so she pushed up hard, standing on her thrusters, then leveled out.

It was easy to find where she was headed- just follow the smoke. She saw Unit One, momentarily weirded out, almost nauseated by seeing it from _above_, and then leveled out. She flicked her eyes to the correct icon and broke into the Eva channel.

"Shinji, talk to me."

"Ritsuko?" he said, his voice wavering. "What do we do?"

"There is nothing to _do,__" _Blondie said, curtly. "We are taking the pilot of Unit Two to the infirmary aboard the Kyoko. Your cooperation is appreciated, but by no means required."

"Maria…" the boy said.

Ritsuko glanced at the tiny images of them on her screen. "Shinji, back off for now."

"_What?__"_ said Shinji, and he shook the control yoke for emphasis. The Eva groaned and its fists came up, like he was about to go Marquess of Queensberry on Tall Blond and Bitchy and her Wonder Eva.

"I'm going with her," said Ritsuko.

"No," said the girl.

"I outrank you, sweetheart, and I'm Asuka's flight surgeon. Her health is my responsibility."

"A responsibility you have exercised poorly," the girl said, haughtily. She somehow managed to turn her chin up despite her damned helmet. "If it weren't for us, _all_ of your pilots would be dead."

"I know a certain King of the Monsters that would take issue with that claim," said the Ritsuko.

The boy cut in. "Ladies, please-"

"_Ladies?__"_ Ritsuko cut in. "You little…"

"**Enough.****"**

Ritsuko shuddered. The voice spoke a single word, and that was all that was needed for the line to go dead. She knew at once who had cut in on their channel. It could be no one else. It was _him_. Doom.

"**Pilot Vincennes, Pilot Carrington, you will stand down and prepare for extraction and recovery. Akagi, you will attend me on the deck of the **_**Kyoko**_**. Now. Pilots Ikari and Ayanami, I presume you will **_**behave**_** yourselves. Do not disappoint me.****"**

The Latverians left the channel, but Ritsuko was still sure he was still listening. "You heard him."

"But…"

Ritsuko started. She expected, Shinji to say something, not _Rei._

"We can't just…" said Shinji.

"We can and we will. What do you think, he's going to let his daughter die? She's going to be okay, guys. I promise."

"Ritsuko," said Shinji. "Be _careful.__"_

Before she could say anything else and let the doubt filter through her voice, she cut them off, turned to the Latverian sky-fleet, and hit the thrusters. As she made the ascent icons appeared on her HUD- they didn't lock onto her, but they could, if they wanted, and she'd be surrounded. She had countermeasures and she was much, much faster and more maneuverable than many airplanes, even fighters, but there were a lot of proverbial -and literal- barrels to stare down, and more as she moved between the larger craft.

The decks of the tree largest ships were just like aircraft carriers, though she saw concessions to their… unusual modes of operation. There were more clamps and locking points, and the crews secured themselves to the deck with long cables that attacked to safety harnesses. The two outer vessels were receiving incoming planes, and Ritsuko felt a little weird and sick to watch them- it must take some balls, she thought, to land an airplane on one of these things; at least they didn't pitch and roll. She came in slowly, not wanting to put a big dent in Doctor Doom's expensive flying aircraft carrier with a fancy landing.

She landed, stood up, and saw him. A chill went down her spine- he looked the same as he did in the black and white photographs she saw in history books when she was a girl, or the ground level newspaper snaps from the New York papers, Doom and the Fantastic Four locked in battle over the rooftops of the city. The wind was harsh and thin up here, and it snapped his green cloak around his armored bulk. Even in her armor he towered over her, overstepping her by at least a foot, making her wonder how big the man inside actually was. She started a simple scan, wondering if she was talking to one of his famous robots, and… nothing. It was like he wasn't even there. He looked down at her through the eye-holes of his hammered steel mask, a brutal thing that really looked like he smelted and hammered out and riveted it by hand, and crossed his huge arms over his chest- she saw glimpses of the machinery beneath the knightly look of the polished steel plating.

"**You come to me armed.**"

"Everybody is wearing power armor," said Ritsuko. "It's the new black."

"**I am here to review your operations, in light of the****… difficulties the organization recently experienced. Fortuitous that I arrived in time to save the lives of the pilots and prevent a total **_**disaster.**__"_

Ritsuko flinched, but her armor didn't move, and she was glad of that.

"**We will not be dealing in absurdities or political games. I understand that Gendo Ikari has been incapacitated, and Fuyutsuki has taken over for him in name, while you have been acting as commander in truth. That ends now. I am assuming command.**"

He remained silent. Testing her.

"I see."

"**If it were not for your expertise, I would see you removed from the organization entirely. You will resume your previous post as chief engineer of the Evangelion project. I will be appointing a new flight surgeon. You will need to concentrate on the upgrades to the Evangelion units, assuming I approve them. Your input on matters of tactics, strategy, and command will not be offered, as it is not required. Is that understood?**"

Ritsuko blinked. "Yes."

"**From this moment forward, you will not involve yourself in the affairs of the pilots. You will not act as headmaster of the academy. You will concern yourself with important matters. Planning **_**school dances**_** is not among them. Pilot Ikari and Pilot Ayanami will take up residence in the dormitories.**"

"Now, look-" Ritsuko snapped, stepping forward.

Doom did… something. He gestured, and then a cannonball hit her in the chest, at least that's what it felt like. She was knocked flat on her ass, and sent reeling across the deck, sparks flying up from under her. She blinked, and a dozen alarms went off- red lines ran all through her chest plate and down her left leg, and there was serious damage to several key subsystems. She was going to have a hard time flying back to the base and landing, much less putting up a fight. Doom loomed over her, without even moving any closer.

"**This is not a game. There will be no more masks, no more costumes, no so-called **_**heroics**_**. This is now **_**my**_** city, and I will not tolerate vigilantism of any kind. I suspect that you have been **_**misappropriating**_** resources for your****… pet projects, and an investigation into such malfeasance would be deleterious to your career. Am I understood?**"

She nodded.

"**Get off my ship.**"

She got up, and pitched from side to side as the armor tried to compensate for the damage. She managed to take off ungracefully, lumbering into the air, and fell more than descended.

* * *

Hikari tensed as something made her neck pinch- at first she thought it was some far off danger, but it wasn't an an angel attack or anything else. It was in the room with them. As soon as Ritsuko finished speaking, Mari went berserk. She grabbed one of the benches in the ready room Ritsuko had given them to wait, and ripped it off the floor… even though it was bolted down, cords standing out on her neck, every bulging muscle on her lithe frame bunching up at once. The bench smashed the television out of the corner of the ceiling and put a spiderweb crack in the floor, and she wasn't done. She turned around and punched the wall so hard it made a fanned bloodstain on the concrete, and then again, and gain, until she was standing with her mangled hands knitting closed over her bones. Hikari grabbed Ritsuko around the waist and dragged her back.

Toji stepped up behind her and took her wrists. Mari didn't yowl or do any of her cute little cat-things, she _snarled_, a deep throaty sound that felt like it came from the bottom of her chest. Toji would have been a dead man if he wasn't Toji- she slipped out of his grasp and raked her claws across his chest, splitting open the front of his school uniform shirt- her claws literally sparked on his skin. She kept yowling and hissing until he locked his arms around her, pressing her arms to her sides, and Hikari felt something, a kind of _drop, _and her legs tensed. Ritsuko struggled to keep her feet, clutching at her head until it was over.

"Calm," said Toji, "Down."

Mari sobbed. "I can't! What if she's dead?"

She tried to wriggle out of Toji's grip, but there was no doing this time. "This is _your fault,__"_ she hissed at Ritsuko, snapping her teeth.

Ritsuko flinched like she'd been hit, and then sagged down onto the remaining bench.

"Let me tell you what I know," said Ritsuko.

Shinji barged in, still in his new plugsuit, still slick with LCL. He smelled like blood; so did Rei, though she'd changed out of hers into a simple school uniform top and slacks that let her tail swish behind her as she walked. She looked at Toji, who appeared to be hugging Mari, and who turned as red as a beet.

"This isn't what it looks like," he said, tightly.

Mari elbowed him in the gut, but if he felt it at all he didn't show it. "Let go of me."

He did, and her claws made a soft, oddly uncomfortable sound as they retracted into her fingers. She stepped back into the corner and sagged into a chair, and it creaked under her weight. Shinji dropped into one of the plastic bucket chairs and his head fell back against the wall. Hikari grabbed his hand and he squeezed it through the glove of his suit. Rei was reserved, moving towards Toji, testing the bounds of what to do in this situation, one she probably wasn't quite there with yet. She ended up standing next to him, and some secret part of Hikari was amused when her tail curled around his waist; she wondered if she knew she was doing that or not.

Ritsuko paced the room, glancing darkly at Mari. "All they'll tell me she's alive, and her condition is stable. What her condition is, or exactly what happened, I don't know. I've got Maya and the techs going over the data from the Eva, but it's incomplete. I don't know what happened to her, except that we don't have to worry about the heat hurting her. Asuka can generate temperatures far in excess of anything we read from inside the plug. We have to keep our heads here, guys. She's with her father."

Mari tensed, drawing her legs up. The hair on top of her head, between her big cat-ears, was actually standing up.

"If it comes to it…" said Hikari. "We can take him."

"Comes to what?" said Ritsuko.

At the same time, very quietly, Shinji said, "No, we can't."

Hikari rounded on him. "He's wearing a _metal suit.__"_

Shinji shook his head, and started to speak. Ritsuko cut him off.

"Hikari, this isn't a game. I can't throw my weight around anymore. Point one, he kicked my ass with a _gesture_. Point two, he's got us. Legally, totally and completely. He _is_ my superior. I'm not in charge anymore. Shinji, you and Rei, Shichi and Hachi are going to have to move out of the house- you're going into the dormitories, on Doom's orders. My authority at the school has been revoked. I'm the head engineer at the Eva project from now on, and that's it. I have to tread lightly."

"This is _crap,__"_ Hikari snapped, "Total crap! We can't just take this-"

"We can, and we will," said Ritsuko. "Hikari, you have to be reasonable. Look at this like an adult. Do you understand what you're asking me? We'd been _mutineers._ We're part of a military organization here- you too, you signed the papers for the pilot program and your father cross-signed. I could literally be executed if I do something serious enough."

She stood up. "We're all going off halfcocked, here. I know his reputation, but we can't assume he's going to come in here and hit us all with mind control beams or something. We have to go with the program."

"Oh," said Hikari, acidly, "So now we're just following orders."

Ritsuko looked at her like she'd been slapped. Hikari tensed, and the apology started to come out, but she clicked her mouth shut. She meant it. This couldn't go on. Ritsuko moved closer to her, and Hikari saw a lot of pain on her face, etched in the lines between her eyes and the funny curve of her mouth… like she was fighting off tears.

"I'm going to let that go," she said, calmly. "I was your age, once, and you mean well. You're a good kid, Hikari, but this is the way it is. I know how clear everything looks. The truth is…" she looked down. "I've been unprofessional. I've gotten too close to you. The big sister routine was fun while it lasted, but I'm responsible for you kids' lives out there, or I was. If I'd been a little more clearheaded we might not be in this mess in the first place. I don't need an intern, Hikari, I need a pilot. I'm sorry."

Hikari just stared at her. She went on.

"I'm… I'm getting an apartment. Your sister is working at the school now, and your dad is a Nerv employee. I'll do some funny stuff with the paperwork, get him a housing allowance. Your dad too, Toji, he's in maintenance." She shook her head, and Hikari felt her chest tighten. "We're not the Avengers, guys. We can't play superhero anymore. It's time to grow up."

It was then that Sakura walked in. Hikari glanced at her, not sure how she _got_ in. She closed the door, muttered something, and traced a funny symbol on the back of it- she could barely make out the shape, in some kind of afterglow that vanished after a few seconds. The room tensed, seemed to grow smaller somehow.

"You need to know something about your new master," said Sakura. "I have no doubt he's very pleased. He was listening to everything you said."

"What?" said Ritsuko.

"I warded the room," said Sakura. "Until I did, you were being scried. I thought you should know."

"I told you," said Shinji. "He has everything covered, every angle. He has better armor than you," he looked at Ritsuko, "he knows more magic than you," he looked at Sakura, "he _knows_ things. He knows what you're thinking before you're thinking it."

"Yeah," said Hikari, acidly, "but _I_ can do whatever a spider can."

"Not anymore," said Ritsuko. "He was clear on that, Hikari. No vigilantism. You will get caught, and you'll go to prison. Real prison, and you won't be coming out for a long time. I can't protect you if he decides to unload the legal machinery on you."

"I could ward the base," said Sakura.

Ritsuko shook her head. "Would he know you did it?"

She nodded.

"Keep your… abilities to yourselves. I'm sure he knows what all of you can do, but if you're not making spectacles of yourselves he has no reason to move against any of you."

Hikari slumped in her seat. Her head hurt. "I'm moving into the dorms, too," she said.

"That's between you and your parents," said Ritsuko, turning. "I have no input on that kind of thing."

Hikari watched her go. Sakura ran after her.

* * *

Sakura caught up with her in the hall. Ritsuko looked tense, and weary, and Sakura could feel the sorrow rolling off her in waves- and pain, there was pain, physical pain even though she was hiding it. Sakura felt deeply dirty probing her thoughts harder than that, but it was clear as a bell. She was thinking about pills, and about alcohol. She could throw a bender, but she usually drank when she was happy, not like… this. Sakura quickened her pace to walk next to her. In spite of her ailment, Ritsuko walked in long-legged strides that practically screamed _leave me alone_.

"I need to talk to you," said Sakura.

"Not now," said Ritsuko. "Look, I-"

Sakura sighed. Then she gestured with her hand and slammed all the doors in the corridors shut. She formed the ward in her mind, expanding the bubble around them- without walls to hang it on, so to speak, she'd have to trickle some of her will to keep it up, but she didn't need long to say what she had to say. Ritsuko sensed the change in the air, and saw the glimmering sigil floating over Sakura's hand.

"What is that?" she said, pointing at it.

"A sigil. It's a magic focus."

"Right," said Ritsuko. "You know that's creepy, right?"

"We don't have time for this, and I don't want to keep the ward up long. He's not looking this way, but if he does…"

Ritsuko tensed. "God, it's like he's Sauron or something."

"The flying lizard guy?"

"No, the character from the Lord of the Rings."

"Oh," said Sakura. "Look, there's no easy way to say this. I have to go to the United States."

"What?" said Ritsuko. "That's crazy. No."

"I'm not asking permission."

Ritsuko blinked. "Now. You pull this on me _now. _Whatever it is, it's got to wait, or you can bring me in the loop and let the adults handle it."

"No," said Sakura, as gravely as she could. "Doctor Doom cannot be made aware of this. I've been studying the journals we found in Sinister's labs. I have to do this, or something very, very bad is going to happen. Like, immortal souls in torment bad. The end of the world bad."

Ritsuko brushed her fingers through her hair. "Great, another apocalypse to avert. I can't help you with this."

"I know," said Sakura. "I understand. I'm not asking. I just didn't want you to worry when I go."

"How are you _getting _there?"

She shrugged. "I just have to rely on the skeins of fate to bring me to what I need."

Ritsuko stared at her blankly. "Stop saying things like that. What the hell is a skein of fate? For that matter, what does scrying mean?"

"Magic stuff."

"Do you get off on not explaining things to me?"

Sakura smiled softly. "Yes."

The old Ritsuko shined through for a moment, before her face became a mask again. "I don't want you to go. Do you have any idea what it's like over there?"

"I know. It's bad. There's no real civilization. The Americas got it the worst during Second Impact. I actually paid attention in school. My brother's the dumb jock."

"He's not dumb, you know," said Ritsuko. "He's a good kid. You're all good kids."

"Thank you. You'd make a good mom. We don't have one, you know. None of us do."

Ritsuko's eyes went wide, and she turned away, sharply. Sakura let the ward collapse, and sighed, watching her go. Her shoulders hunched and she pitched forward, and she looked like a wounded animal, left out in the rain. When she turned the corner and disappeared into the vast labyrinthian of Nerv, Sakura turned on her heels and started walking. She pulled a blank post-it note out of her pocket, waved her hand over it, and used a _glamour_ to disguise it as an ID card. She _had_ an ID card, but this way was better- the enchantment made her effectively invisible. She walked past a few guards and technicians, and took the elevator up to the Geofront, then hopped a tram to the surface, watching the world slide underneath her. By the time she was back above ground, the evacuation alert had lifted. She glanced up a few times at the fleet overhanging the city- they were moving off now, probably to land in the ocean. She didn't know much about helicarriers but keeping something that big aloft probably took some doing. For a moment she was tempted to extend her senses to the ships, to see if Doom was looking her way.

Stephen appeared beside her, a blurred outline. "You know better."

"He nearly bested you," said Sakura. "He would have been Sorcerer Supreme."

"Yes, and could be still, which is why he must not know that he could usurp my place. With my strength added to his own…"

She nodded. "I understand, master."

"I can offer you nothing further until you begin your test," said Strange. "I will be seeing you, in time."

She nodded again, not looking at him. She took a long and circuitous route, making sure there was no one watching her, in astral form, by scrying or otherwise, as she headed to the school. Her glamoured sticky note got her inside, even though classes were over. The building was eerily quiet, as empty schools are, haunted by the absence of laughs and quarrels and bored sighs, and the scraping of feet on tile. She made her way to the history classroom, where Erik Lawson was sitting at his desk, grading papers.

He didn't acknowledge her for a while.

"Clever trick, that," he finally said.

"Yes," said Sakura. "I learned from the best."

He glanced over his reading glasses at her. "I've become something of an expert at using power efficiently. What is it you need?"

"I have to-"

"Go to America, yes, I know."

Her eyes narrowed. "You always do that."

He grinned. "You must let me have _some_ fun. I must say, I'm impressed with the way you turned the beast."

"I didn't turn him. I offered my opinion."

"I see," said Lawson. "Impressive, nonetheless. You know I can't help you."

"I know," said Sakura. "I think you've bound yourself to the school somehow."

"Perhaps," said Lawson. Perhaps was his favorite word, it seemed. "I cannot leave, nor do I have the strength to whisk you across the ocean to your goal. It wouldn't be much of a trial if it was _easy._ I can tell you this- You will need companions. This task of yours, you cannot do alone. This I tell you, little _v__ísendakona. _On your quest five shall depart, and four shall return. Do not tread lightly in this."

A chill ran through her. "You mean someone will-"

"I mean what I said. No more, no less. I would offer to run you through some basic enchantments but I've been huddled in that damned shelter all day, papers ungraded, and I have… plans for this evening. Not to mention that by detaining you I might interfere with your fate. You may go."

With a sigh, Sakura left him, and walked out into the evening. The air was crisp, but when she breathed in, she was assaulted by the stink of rotten eggs. No, not eggs. She threw up a basic ward and spun, feeling for the source of her unease.

"Sloppy," a man said, "if I was a monster I'd have gobbled you all up."

He was leaning on a motorcycle, as black as his jacket and road suit. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth, and it looked worn, as though he preferring rolling it this way and that in his mouth to lighting it. His eyes had a haunted look that of a man who has seen too much. Sakura stilled herself, ready if he tried something. There was an air about him. Oily, profane. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and slipped it in his jacket pocket. She saw it bend.

"Who are you?"

"Kaji. Ryoji Kaji."

"What are you?"

He laughed at that. "Many things to many people, especially at night. In my day job, I'm a facilitator. A fence. You know what a fence is, right?"

"You move stolen goods."

"Something like that. Thing is, I know you need something. A little birdie told me. A matter of transportation."

"Maybe," said Sakura.

He sighed. "Why does everyone say that? Look, let's be straight with each other. I'll get you where you need to go. When you come back, you do a job for me."

"I'm not committing any crimes for you."

"I didn't say that," he said, standing up. "I did something. I need it undone. That's my price. In return, I get you where you need to go, but that's all. I'm not going with you to confront ancient evil or whatever. I'm your driver."

"I'll think about it," said Sakura.

"You do that," he said, working his bike out onto the road. "You make up your mind, go talk to Lady Mysterio. Ask her how to find the Two Thieves, and tell her I sent you."

Sakura said nothing. His motorcycle roared to life, and she watched him go, thoughtfully.

* * *

Asuka drifted. She was half asleep when the found her, and half aware of hands lifting her under the arms and knees, shifting her out of the pilot's seat onto a stretcher. She fought feebly when they removed her plugsuit- they had to cut it off; the armor plating Akagi had installed sloughed off sometime during the fight, and the composite materials of the inner suit were clinging to her skin, the internal electronics and seams all melted, and so the pulled it away from her neck and used blunt-tipped but terribly sharp surgical scissors to peel it away from her, like a second skin. When it was off she felt terribly cold, a chill working its way into her blood that sank then into her bones, and didn't go away even as someone gave her a sponge bath that she feebly protested, barely able to muster a few swipes with the back of her hand to protest the indignity. Sometime during the process, when she finally began to feel warm again, she was covered with a blanket and passed out.

She slid through a haze, and as she so often did, dreamed of her mother.

Kyoko picked her up off the floor- Asuka felt tiny, and grasped her mother back, hugging her tightly around the neck. She was tall and lithe, and despite age and the bearing of her only child she was athletic and supple under the black bodysuit covered her to the neck. Her radiant red-gold hair, which hung almost to her knees, was tied in a tight ponytail that swung behind her when she moved. Asuka buried her face in her mama's shoulder and breathed, but something was wrong. When she opened her eyes her mother was wearing Asuka's plugsuit, the original red one before Akagi rebuilt them. When she looked up, she was staring into her own eyes.

With a start she snapped awake and sat up, clutching the thin hospital blanket to her chest. She looked around, confused. This didn't look like the Nerv infirmary; where was she? There was no identifying bracelet around her wrist, and the room was spare- no television, no nightstand. The intravenous line running to her hand was connected to a bag of saline solution, but nothing else. Wincing, she lifted the blanket and peeled back her hospital gown, expecting some sympathetic scarring, but the pale skin of her leg was still smooth and unmarked. She flexed it experimentally, and wiggled her toes. All seemed as it should be. Absently she touched her chest, just under her collarbone.

She expected to find a certain locket, but found nothing. In a panic she whirled out of the bed, throwing the sheets back, her bare feet squeaking on the cold tile floor. She shook the sheets out, shook her gown, lifted the mattress, dropped to her hands and knees and looked under the bed, but everything was pristine, polished to an absurd, obsessive level. Her locket was _missing_. She stood up, and whirled when she heard footsteps. Heavy, thudding footsteps. The door swung open, filled by a massive, armored frame.

She turned and stood straight as an arrow.

"Father," she said.

* * *

She had to move fast- there wasn't much time.

Ritsuko closed the hospital room door behind her, and dropped the bag she was carrying on the side chair. Natalie Summers- the younger, that is, the clone- looked up from the battered, dogeared copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ that she was reading, and blinked her eerie red eyes, swiping a thick lock of jet black hair out of her face as she did. She was as unnerving as ever, her skin milk white, every aspect her form crafted, _made_ by someone; she was built to be some kind of succubus. She was a thing, someone grew her in a lab.

_Just like Rei_, Ritsuko thought, and winced, hating herself.

"You don't like me," the girl said, quietly.

"Can you read my mind?" said Ritsuko.

She shook her head. "It doesn't work that way. I can… feel things from people. Nobody likes me, except the nurse who gave me this," she lifted the book. "Why are you here?"

"I have to get you out of here."

"Why?"

"Don't you want to leave?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't belong here. Everything I remember is gone."

"I can't leave you. Bad people are coming, and they'll figure out what… who you are, and that might be bad for you."

She shrugged. "Fine. I shouldn't be in a hospital, I'm not sick."

"I'm sorry I left you here this long," said Ritsuko.

"No, you're not."

Ritsuko clenched, digging her fingernails into her palms. She wasn't angry at the presumption, she was angry because the girl was _right_. No matter what Sakura said, Ritsuko could only see the monster that tormented them all, and who could blame her? They weren't just twins, they were, physically anyway, the same person. Yet, the story Sakura related to her was terrible- to be living your life and have _that_ happen, to have someone come in and murder your only family and take over your mind, leave you crushed up in the corner of your own brain like a bug in a shoe while they used your body. Ritsuko shuddered. How much did she remember?

"How much do you remember, from before?"

She shook her head. "It's like a dream I can't remember. A bad dream."

Ritsuko put her hand in the pocket of her lab coat, and with the other scooped up the bag and dropped it on the bed. "Clothes, and some makeup. Do you remember how to use makeup?"

She nodded.

"I can't have you going out of here looking like a statue. I'll be outside."

"Thank you."

Ritsuko stepped outside. A few minutes later, the girl stepped out. She took the hint, and had pulled up the hood of the sweatshirt Ritsuko brought- one of hers, which hung on the young girl's frame like a cloak over a loose pair of jeans, cinched up with a belt that looked like the twine on a sack of potatoes. The pants were also hers, and she was wearing the hospital-issue scuff slippers. She disappeared inside the hood, except for the pale curve of her chin.

"Walk casually," said Ritsuko.

The girl said nothing, and followed along beside her, a few steps back, meeting no one's eye as they left the infirmary. When they were outside, Ritsuko let out a long, long sigh of relief and wished for a cigarette, a pill, and a drink, in that order. She still had her last bottle of codeine but she'd written herself a scrip for some Percocet, for when the pain became unbearable and she couldn't sleep. She had neither on her now. The Latverians hadn't moved in yet, Fuyutsuki was still waiting for that, but she had to toe a straight-arrow line.

So why was she doing this?

She didn't trust a staff car for this, so she borrowed Maya's hatchback. She was a little shaky behind the wheel, and a little shaky generally, but she puttered her way to the car lift out of the Geofront and sat there in silence. The girl didn't seem to breathe. Ritsuko shuddered; she probably didn't there was no point in hooking a heart or blood pressure monitor up to her, she didn't have a circulatory system. She was unnerving, almost alien.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"I don't know," said Ritsuko. "I haven't figured that out yet. I'll take care of you. We've been treating you like shit and it's not your fault what happened."

They pulled out onto the road after Ritsuko swiped her security card at the gate.

"Yes it is," the girl murmured.

"What?"

"It is," she said, her voice cracking. "I should have been better. I should have stopped him, if I was stronger or better I could have-"

Ritsuko slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a stop.

"Don't say that," she said, anger tightening her voice. "Ever, do you hear me? What happened to you is _not your fault_. That… that _monster__…" _

She choked the steering wheel in her hands, until her knuckle turned white. God, the way she'd treated this girl, and she was just as much a victim as the rest of them. Moreso, even.

She put the car in gear and awkwardly lurched forward. She could zoom around in powered armor but a clutch was her ancient enemy.

"It's going to be okay," said Ritsuko.

You wouldn't have to be psychic to know she didn't believe it.


	18. Here Be Dragons

_Previously on__…_

**EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS**

_Battle was joined! Enraged by the strange sounds emitted by the seventh angel, the King of the Monsters himself rose from the sea and attacked, even as the Evangelions were driven back by the sheer size of the enemy. Unit Two went berserk, disconnected from all Nerv systems, and rose on its own- smoking with fire like a demon from the most ancient hell, it moved with strange purpose, not a ravenous beast but a seasoned warrior. The berserk Eva managed to bring the immovable object into the path of the irresistible force. By directing his fury to the angel__'s core, the Eva helped Godzilla destroy it. The ancient monster then turned back to the sea, convinced, somehow, by Sakura to leave the Evas alone as Ritsuko wisely ordered her pilots not to attack. _

_The battle wasn__'t over, however, as the Latverian Evangelions, piloted by Maria Vincennes of Brazil and Rashid Carrington of the former Great Britain moved to secure the now incapacitated Eva while the Latverians recovered Asuka and returned her to their helicarriers. Shinji and Rei nearly attacked, egged on by Vincennes. Sensing that an Eva-on-Eva brawl was about to break out, Ritsuko armored up and went out herself, hoping to defuse the situation somehow. _

_It was Doctor Doom who did. As soon as the living legend spoke, silence reigned, although the Latverians succeeded in claiming Asuka. Doom invited Ritsuko to the deck of his flagship for a chat. His ultimatum was simple: No more costumes, no more games, no more superheroes; her time as den mother to the pilots was over and Nerv would be under his direct control. To explain why, he devastated Ritsuko__'s armor through some unknown means, barely making an effort. _

_Back at the base, a heated argument broke out between Ritsuko, urging cooperation and caution, and Hikari, who had inadvertently formed a coalition of pilots and pilot candidates arguing to take the fight to Doom now and make a moral stand. Shinji expressed only fear, warning the others that they did not know what they were dealing with._

_Ritsuko accepted Doom__'s orders, owing to his fully legal authority… but she also freed the clone of Natalie Summers before the Latverians could find and claim her, to who knows what end. _

* * *

"**HERE BE DRAGONS"**

* * *

The map lay spread before her on the desk, as Sakura refused to budge from her little bolt-holt in what she supposed was still Shinji's house. Leaning over the table, she compared the two maps. The newer one was the same projection as the old, but centered on Japan, with the rest of the world forming the edges. The Americas did not have the neat lines of division that lived only on maps; North and South America were blacked out, and a dotted line marked the uncrossable perimeter, where UN ships prowled the Atlantic and Pacific, keeping at bay anything that might try to escape from a wasteland, the world's largest prison. As she started her research, she heard that the Chinese had been exiling dissidents there- exiling, of course meaning that they were dropped off on the coast and left to die. She heard other, even uglier rumors; the worst of the worst, the super-beings who wouldn't fit into the new order, were imprisoned there, in a lawless land- America and Canada had simply gone dark not long after Second Impact, and the survivors of the tsunamis that hit South America told stories of waves a thousand feet high that crashed against the very feet of the Andes and swept whole nations clean, the wrath of nature unleashed.

Europe, somehow, had been prepared for the disaster; only low lying areas were lost, like the Netherlands, and the vastness of Asia protected much of the population, though India would never be the superpower it was about to become before the waves hit, and Australia's population had been cut by two thirds, and it was now a satellite state of Doom's coalition, owing to its ties to the British Commonwealth. Doom supposedly had some kind of colony or outpost in Newfoundland, but Sakura could find no details on that at all, nor how the Europeans had somehow anticipated the waves. Parts of Africa had been destroyed or heavily damaged, particularly in the south; the survivors clung to the leadership of the Wakandans; their God-King and his Storm Queen were spoken of as legendary beings, rarely seen.

Next to the new map she had an old one she'd bought in a shop- an antique dealer that dealt in documents, who seemed rather _cagey _now that the Latverians were in town. The old map showed a topography of a dead world, and she leaned over it now like an Olympian over a mystic pool, gazing upon the affairs of mortals. The names on the map fired her imagination as they reminded her of half-remembered history lectures from Lawson's class. She heard footsteps and folded up the maps, hastily rolling them into a loose, crinkling tube. Toji knocked on the door frame and stepped in.

"Are you packed?"

They were about to move into their new apartment with Dad. Ritsuko had been kind enough to arrange it for them, shortly before she herself vacated the house. Sakura didn't have much to pack- most of her possessions were destroyed when the Russians flattened their house. Hikari was moving into the dormitories at school; Kodama was taking a job as one of the matrons that lived full-time in the girl's dorm, while their little sister Nozomi moved into an apartment with their father. Everyone was pulling apart, abandoning the weird little den they'd built in Shinji's father's oversized house. Toji folded his arms over his chest and looked at her.

"You're up to something."

"I'm not up to something," Sakura sighed, re-rolling the maps, careful not to let him see what they were.

"Yes, you are. Don't you think I can tell?"

"I ward my mind against intrusion with magic spells," Sakura sighed.

"I'm your brother," said Toji. "That crap doesn't work on me."

She ran her hand through her hair. "Look, you can't tell anybody, okay?"

"Okay," said Toji.

"I have to go away."

His eyes narrowed. "Where?"

"Out of town for a while. Nowhere dangerous."

"You're lying."

Exasperated, she stood up. "I have to, Toji. This is important."

He stared at her. "Where are you going?"

"North America."

His jaw dropped. "_What? _Are you insane?"

"Keep your voice down," she snapped, pulling him into the room by the arm. Technically, he didn't have to, as she had the room warded against eaves droppers, but a little caution didn't hurt.

"I don't care what this is about," said Toji, "but you're not going. How would you even get there?"

"I know a guy," said Sakura. "Sort of. He wants me to do him a favor. Magic stuff."

"What favor?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. Something that needs a major talent, obviously."

"I'll bet," said Toji. "I bet he's one of those internet pervs. He's just after your tight teen butt."

"Takes a perv to know one," said Sakura, "and please do not ever comment on the tightness of my butt ever again."

"I didn't say it, Kensuke did."

"Remind me to hex him."

"I will."

He was staring at her. A shiver ran down her spine. Lawson… no, Loki, it was Loki talking then, she was sure of it, told her that she'd have four companions, and one of them wasn't coming back. She had a feeling if she tried to mess with fate something would go bad almost immediately and catastrophically at that. Something tugged at her mind, and when she spoke next the words were out of her mouth before she realized she was speaking. She'd felt the feeling before, a kind of eddy in the current of fate that was so strong she could only circle around it, not escape it. She wondered if other people knew they were directed so, if they felt the pull. When they met a fated lover, maybe, or narrowly escaped death without realizing it, or the universe gave them a second chance to put right a mistake and their brain dismissed it as a little hiccup, a kind of deja vu.

"What if I took you with me?"

"Dad would never let us."

"We can't tell him," said Sakura. "Toji, you haven't seen what I've seen. If I don't do this, we're all going to die. Dad might be angry with us for running away, it might cause trouble at the school, but what will that matter if something bad happens and I can't stop it? You can't feel it, can you?"

His expression hardened, and he set his jaw.

"I have," said Sakura. "I can _feel it. _We're circling the drain. Something big has been broken, and unless it gets fixed we're not going to make it. I don't mean us, or the city, I mean our species. Our planet. Maybe our dimension. I have to do this. It's my job."

"Why you? Why not somebody else?"

"It chose me," said Sakura. "I am the instrument of fate. I can't just shut if off or turn away from it. I have to do what I have to do, with or without you. There isn't really anything you can do to stop me, you know."

"Fine," he said, sharply. "Fine, I'll go with you."

"I'm going, too."

Sakura jumped. Rei had snuck up to the door so quietly that Sakura hadn't noticed her, and she immediately chastised herself for it, biting her lip. The pale girl moved like a ghost when she wanted to, remarkably light on her feet. Sakura sometimes wondered if there was more to her than mere mutation, expression of the x-gene- Rei practically _smelled_ of magic sometimes, especially when she did her thing and jumped from one place to another. Sakura was starting to think Rei wasn't merely taking the shortest path between two points, but leaping through some other world, passing through a shortening of the way from one space to the next.

"You can't," said Toji. Sakura expected him to say it was too dangerous. "You have to pilot the Eva."

"My sisters can do that," said Rei. "I will not allow you to face danger alone."

They looked at each other. Sakura felt awkward. Being in the room with them was awkward, sometimes. They seemed to have a gravitational pull towards each other, kind of like Shinji and Hikari, like they'd been placed together by some larger force to fulfill some larger purpose. Sometimes, she wondered if they weren't all just puppets, arranged by someone watching them from an angle she couldn't see, directing their movements to some grand end. She knew that _something _was pushing them in certain directions, but she never knew how hard. Were they being nudged in the right direction, or pulled along by something they couldn't resist?

"When are we leaving?" said Rei.

Sakura sighed. "We're not ready yet. There will be two more who join us, and we have to make contact with the man who's going to transport us across the ocean. We need to go to Nerv's holding cells and see this Lady Mysterio person."

"Shouldn't it be Mysteria?" said Toji.

Sakura just looked at him. "Come on."

"Your security privileges have been revoked," said Rei.

"My security privileges are _never_ revoked," said Sakura. "Check this out."

She opened one of her suitcases, where she'd packed her few possessions- mostly clothes. She pulled out a labcoat she'd lifted from Ritsuko -lifted wasn't exactly the right word, Ritsuko was drunk and dreaming about something indecent so hard Sakura could have sensed it without looking; it seemed she had some interest in the very same Kaji that had offered her transportation, but she didn't poke any further into the sleeping doctor's dreams. When she had the coat on, she took out her pad of sticky notes, stuck one on her chest, and put one on Toji's shirt.

"What is this?" he said, then lifted the note and looked at it. "How did you get a Nerv ID badge with my face and some other guy's name on it?"

"It's a post-it," said Sakura. "I enchanted it. It's complicated. Let's go."

Sakura led the way, after she zipped up her bags. Access to the underground part of the city from the house was swift, something she would miss when they got back. All they had to do was get in one of the tram cars. The security guard at the gate waved them through, yawning and looking through them, beguiled in the literal sense of the word by magic. She'd need a stronger disguise if she ran into someone of stronger will, but most of the people they would see would barely be paying attention to their surroundings. The illusions would redirect their thinking, make them forget anyone even walked past them.

Oddly, security was most lax in the holding cells Nerv's prison. Sakura only had to flash another sticky note at the guard and they were allowed in. Toji grew more and more nervous as they walked deep into the bowels of the base, and Sakura found herself snickering at them. They didn't have a prison that would hold him, and it wasn't like they could hurt him. Besides, Rei, at least in theory, was _supposed_ to be there, and her almost eerie calm kept up the illusion as she followed behind them, watching everything and saying nothing.

They arrived at the right cell, and Sakura snorted. This was the woman that had given Hikari and Ritsuko trouble? She looked like she might work in a restaurant, or like she was some housewife. The orange fatigues she wore only accentuated her normality as she sat on the cot in her cell and stared at the wall. She gave a shudder, and looked at Sakura.

"Look, I already told you everything I know," she snapped. "I could keep the gear if I paid the fee. I didn't want to hurt anybody."

Sakura nodded; the woman was seeing the image Sakura was projecting, a scientist she'd modeled on Akagi, a woman who didn't actually exist, but wore a Nerv badge on her lab coat.

"You didn't tell us everything," said Sakura. "You didn't tell us how to find the Two Thieves."

"I don't know anything about any two thieves," said the woman.

"I think you do."

Sakura reached out with her mind- a psychic graze, a kind of soft slap. The woman recoiled, her eyes widened. "Oh God, you work for him, don't you? You're one of them."

"Maybe," said Sakura. The best lies aren't lies, an expert once told her.

"I didn't tell them where to find it. I swear. Don't kill me."

"I won't, if you tell me what you know."

"The business district. Downtown. There's an antique store. They sell a lot of maps. You go up to the owner, and you ask if he knows Barabbas. He takes you to the right place. It moves."

"That'll do," said Sakura.

"Are you going to get me out?"

She shrugged. "I didn't get you in."

She turned, and walked away from the cell. Toji and Rei followed, looking thoroughly confused. Sakura stopped when she heard a shrill sound, like a scream, and a gunshot. Toji tensed, and the world drew in on him- Sakura's knees nearly buckled as she suddenly felt like another her was sitting on her shoulders, and a feathered spiderweb of cracks spread around his feet as he clenched his fists. Rei, somehow, ignored that and moved lightly on the balls of her feet, her tail swishing back and forth behind her. She took his arm in her hand, and Sakura felt a kind of folding around her, like the world was thinning- she was thinking about teleporting.

There was another gunshot, and Mana Kirishima came running down the hallway, buck naked, her arms blood up to the elbow and an ugly gunshot wound in her side.

"Mana!" said Sakura.

The girl froze, and looked at her, wide-eyed. Her face was a flickering explosion of expressions- rage, fear, relief, surprise, her mouth working silently. There was another shout. Sakura shrugged out of her labcoat, stuck her sticky note back on her chest, and draped the coat around the naked girl. Her claws made a rather hideous noise as they retracted back into her forearms and feet, and she moved close, drawing up on Sakura as though she were the girl's mother, picking her up after she fell and hurt herself.

Toji tensed even further as two guards- tall, in dark green Latverian uniforms- rushed down the hall, guns drawn. One had a spray of blood on him that wasn't his.

"There she is!" he shouted, pointing at Mana. "What are you doing, woman?"

Sakura stepped up to them. "These are not the droids you're looking for. Move along."

The guard blinked, and his eyes narrowed. "Step aside. This girl is coming with us."

Mana snarled and the blades slid out of her hands as she formed them into fists. Sakura held her tightly around the waist, shaking her head slightly. "You're not looking for her. You're going to get help for your friend. He cut himself, and he's bleeding."

"What? Make sense, woman! Out of the way, or we'll arrest you, too."

Sakura blinked, and reached out. Someone had… adjusted these men's minds, making them harder to manipulate. She focused a little harder, and they stared at her vacantly for a second, then all at once slid bonelessly to the floor, spasming. Mana yelped and Toji rushed over, staring at them. The two men were writhing on the floor, at least for a moment, before they went still.

"Did you kill them?" Toji squeaked.

"No," said Sakura, trying to cover how hard she was breathing. "In a few hours they're going to wake up with a serious headache and they won't remember anything up to a few hours ago, but they'll be fine. We have to go."

"What about her?"

Sakura looked at Mana. "She's coming with us."

* * *

"**Did you arrange for a test subjects recovered from Essex' lab to escape the**** infirmary?"**

One of these days, Ritsuko was going to see if Doom had a volume adjustment on his armor. Right now, she was too busy not peeing her pants. One minute, she was sitting in her office, and the next, ten Latverians with guns on their belts were rushing into the labs, preceding their master who strode through the technicians like a standing stone with legs; he parted them like a wave. Hyuga was turning a sickly shade and grasping his mouth as if he was about to throw up. Maya, on the other hand, had turned in her chair and gone very still, and her skin was rapidly getting greener and scalier.

"No," said Ritsuko. "I don't have anything to do with that. I was completing the report on the damage to Unit Two."

"**Are you giving me an alibi?"**

He loomed over her, not giving her time to stand up before her started asking his questions. Her back was hurting something fierce now, a steady throb that seemed to pick up whenever she even thought about Doom. She looked at the eyes inside that mask, the only part him that was visible from the outside. They were a pale blue, like chips of ice. She couldn't see any scarring in the bit of smooth skin around them, but she'd heard the stories. They all had. She wondered how the man in that suit was holding up- he had to be pushing ninety, but giant mechanical suits had a way of making a man look younger. Ritsuko kept very calm, meeting his gaze- the only act of defiance she dared; none of the Latverians ever seemed to look at him, like he was the Ark of the Covenant or something.

"No, Doctor, but if it comes to that, I've been here with my technicians all morning, and you can trace my identification badge if you don't believe it. We have a great deal of work to do, and much of it I can't delegate."

"**That never stopped you before.**"

"I had a bit too much on my plate."

"**The reports will be delivered to my attaché this afternoon."**

"Yes, sir," said Ritsuko.

Doom turned, suit grinding, and left, surrounded by his green-clad cloud of guards. When they left the chatter started, and Hyuga rushed to a wastebasket and deposited his breakfast into it, then gave a few raspy dry heaves for good measure.

"Doesn't he ever knock?" Ritsuko grumbled.

"We can take him," Maya hissed.

Ritsuko sighed, and palmed her face. "Not you, too. I've been through this with the kids."

Maya looked at her- the faint ridge of scales on her nose was receding, and her black turtleneck wasn't so tight as it had been a moment a go, although Maya's, err, accident had still been _very_ kind to her in certain areas. It may have made her different but it certainly hadn't made her any less popular with the male techs; Ritsuko wondered if she knew if the guys were taking bets on whether the carpet matched the newly-emerald drapes. They were all too chicken to try and find out, of course.

"I can't believe we have to put up with this," Maya snapped. The pen in her hand exploded, dribbling thick black ink between her fingers. "We should-"

"What, fight?" said Ritsuko. "We're hopelessly, hilariously outgunned. I don't know if you noticed, but there's a fleet of aircraft carriers sitting in the bay. Aircraft carriers that _fly_, and there's two Evas berthed on them, and all three of ours are in substandard condition after getting their asses kicked because I'm too incompetent as a commander. I shouldn't have tried to take charge, Maya. I almost got the kids killed."

"I can't believe you're saying that," said Maya. "You almost sound like you're _defending_ him."

"I'm not," said Ritsuko, "but the Latverians were part of this from the start. One of the pilots -our pilots- is Latverian, and Unit Two was built in Latveria. It shouldn't be a shock that they were working on more, and we need an actual military mind in charge around here. Maybe we can actually win the next battle without something falling out of the sky to save our asses."

Maya glared at her.

"We're not going to be able to do that with the Evas in this condition. Unit Two is still extra crispy."

"Not to mention that we haven't seen the pilot in two days," said Maya.

"I'm sure she's fine. He wouldn't do anything to his own daughter."

"Are you sure?" said Maya. "I've heard stories."

"What kind of stories?"

Maya inched closer, turning away from her work. "They say they have camps, where they round people up," said Maya. "I heard a woman was sent to prison for life for having a copy of that book about Spider-Man."

"I'm sure that's just rumors," said Ritsuko, tersely.

"They said that about…"

"_What do you want from me?"_ Ritsuko barked, rounding on her. "Put on my armor and go get into a fistfight? Do you think that will change anything, Maya? Maya the pacifist? Do any of you understand what's at stake here? If the angels breach our defenses, it means the _end of the world_. Look, I don't agree with his politics, but-"

"The ends justify the means?" Maya said, rising to her feet. She was starting to muscle up again, clenching her fists. "We just have to take it, because they pay our bills? Do you think these people are just going to let us live our lives? They're already barging in here and interrogating you. What next, will they bug our houses? Did you think that maybe he threatened you about Hikari because he's afraid of what these kids can do if he pushes them? They showed up here with enough firepower to level the city! What do you think that means? Don't worry, I'm Doctor Doom and I'm here to help?"

Ritsuko blinked. "Take a break," she said. "Go for a walk."

Maya was breathing hard, and she'd grown six inches and was straining her uniform. She blinked, and looked down at herself. She looked guilty, but she still looked angry. She stormed out of the office, slamming the doors aside so hard Ritsuko winced and was a little shocked when the glass didn't shatter. She sank back into her seat and looked at the pile of reports she had yet to sign off on. Doom wasn't here to cackle and round up dissidents, she was sure. Those days were over; the supervillains went away with the superheroes. He was just another boss, and eventually he'd leave; the other members of the UN, such as they were, wouldn't tolerate Doom taking over Nerv and controlling the world's most powerful weapon while holding humanity hostage.

She stirred her coffee. If she believed that, she had a bridge to sell.

* * *

Getting clothes for Mana was a bit of a job. What they ended up doing was bluffing their way deeper into the base, where there were some showers- at one of the staff fitness centers, no less. Sakura was sweating from the effort of keeping up the illusion for so long with so many people seeing them, and she collapsed against the lockers by the time they got Mana into one of the showers to clean the dried blood off her hands. Toji was standing guard duty outside, having almost insisted on following them in. Once Mana was getting cleaned up, it was a simple matter to open up a locker- moving the innards of the lock telekinetically was a welcome distraction. The lock popped free, and Sakura laid out a stolen set of civilian clothes on the wooden bench as Mana came out of the showers, toweling herself off, and moving with that same kind of baffling indifference to nudity that Rei tended to have. She quickly started to dress without saying anything.

"Mana," said Sakura. "I need you to come with me."

"Alright," she shrugged.

"That's it?" said Sakura. "Alright?"

"I can't stay here," said Mana. "The Akagi woman said so. She made me leave the hospital. I didn't want to go."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "She did, did she?"

"She said they would experiment on me. I don't want someone to experiment on me. I want to go home, but they said my home is gone."

She swept a stray lock of auburn, turned dark by the water, out of her eyes. "I remember the light. They're gone, aren't they?"

"Yes. Do you remember anything?"

She shook her head. "I remember the pale lady. She made me forget. I want to kill her, but they told me she's dead."

"We're going somewhere dangerous," said Sakura.

"I'm dangerous," said Mana. "The nurses were all scared of me. I can smell it. You're not scared of me. I can smell you." She looked at Rei. "I can smell her. She smells wrong."

"Smells wrong?" said Sakura. "What do you mean?"

If Rei was disturbed by hearing that, she didn't show it. She just sat on the bench, her tail swaying back and forth behind her, her usual blank expression on her face, though there was a soft hint of something cloud in the tilt of her head. Sakura realized she couldn't really feel what Rei was thinking, and chalked it up to fatigue. Mana was dressed now- Sakura had stolen some security guard's clothes from the locker, and the martial air of the uniform pants suited her, somehow. She was still barefoot and was wearing only a tank top, but she looked like she was done dressing.

"I'm ready to go," she said, flatly.

Sakura sighed, and pulled out another sticky note. She could keep up the illusion a bit longer, at least until they got out of the base, if they kept to the side corridors and kept their heads down. As she walked out of the locker room, Sakura heard a loud metallic clang, and stopped. It came again a moment later, and she looked over to see Toji staring at a very green woman lying on a bench, heaving the rough equivalent to a car in the air, in the form of iron plates that were so numerous on the bar that they made the ends sway up and down as it moved. As Maya pumped the weight away from her chest, she barely seemed to notice it; she was scowling hard, and had stripped down to a pair of shorts and a sports bra, muscles rippling under her green skin.

Sakura walked up to Toji. "What are you doing?"

"Uh," he said. "Nothing."

"You're staring at her," said Sakura.

"I am not."

"Yes, you are."

"I am not."

Maya sat up. "What are you doing here?" she snapped. Her incisors had elongated into fangs, and there was a faint ridge on her nose, a hint of sprouting scales. Sakura tensed; it meant she was mad, and when Maya got mad Sakura's little mental tricks sort of slid off her, like a bead of water dancing on a hot skillet. "What's she doing here?" said Maya, pointing at Mana.

"Leaving," said Mana.

Sakura looked at Maya. "She needed a shower. We'll be on our way."

"She cut up some Latverian. He's in intensive care," said Maya.

"He deserved it," said Mana.

"Good," said Maya. "I didn't see you."

Sakura started to turn, and then she felt a tug, a pull at the back of her neck, like she was tethered.

"Maya," she said.

"What?" Maya snapped. "Look, the less I talk to you, the less I can say when they interrogate me."

"What do you mean?"

"We're under occupation, if you haven't noticed," said Maya, "and the one person I always looked up to is just going along with it. She says we have more important things to worry about."

Sakura turned around. "We do."

"What?" said Maya? "You-"

"No," said Sakura. "We, you and us. You're supposed to come with us."

"Come with you? Where?"

"I don't have time to explain," said Sakura. "We have to leave, and we have to leave today. You have to come with us. If you don't, something bad is going to happen. Very bad."

Maya looked at her, and stood up. She seemed a lot taller. Scratch that; she'd put on a few inches since the last time Sakura saw her, but then again Maya's height tended to fluctuate with her mood.

"You're the fifth. Five must go," said Sakura, not saying, still dreading the other part of Loki's prophecy. "We're going on a quest."

"You're not making any sense," said Maya.

"We are on a mission from God," said Rei.

Everyone looked at her.

"I saw it in a movie."

Sakura sighed, exasperated, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't make you, Maya. I know how crazy this has to sound, but-"

"It's about that book, isn't it? The one in the lab?"

"Yes," said Sakura.

Maya shifted on her feet. She calmed- Sakura didn't need to be psychic to know that; Maya had already lost an inch of height and the veins on her stomach had disappeared as her skin softened a little until her frame was merely athletic. In a few seconds she looked more like her old self, just greener. She blinked her big golden eyes and looked around.

"We should go, before somebody sees us. Give me a minute to get dressed."

Sakura sat down. Toji sat down next to Rei. Mana stood up, and paced, her bare feet padding softly on the rubberized floor of the weight room. Toji wavered for a second, obviously thinking hard about second, coughed into his fist, and looked into the side.

"So, uh, Rei," he said. "Have you ever thought about lifting weights?"

Rei's expression darkened with annoyance. "No," she said, flatly. "Are you implying I am fat?"

"No," Toji squeaked.

Sakura palmed her face. Maya came out of the locker room, dressed for her ride home in a baggy ensemble with her purse slung on her arm. Sakura stood up, sighing. This time, she let Maya lead, and Maya took some of the back routes through the base, shying away from the high traffic areas. By the time Sakura let the illusion drop, she was exhausted, and they were riding the tram to the surface. The transit system was weirdly deserted, and they had a car to themselves.

"Where are we going?" said Maya.

"North America," said Sakura. "I have to get to the ruins of New York."

Maya's jaw dropped. "Wh… what… why?"

"The less I say, the better. I don't know who's listening."

Toji looked at the floor. Mana was still barefoot, but nothing seemed to bother her feet, even the cold floor of the tram car. Which was also filthy. Sakura didn't say anything. Eventually, it pulled up to the surface station and they piled out.

"We can't all fit in my car," said Maya. "Ritsuko… Doctor Akagi isn't going to call us a limo anymore, either."

"I can take care of that," said Rei.

"Oh," said Maya. "I've never, ah, done that before."

"Hold my hand," said Toji.

They formed up a circle, Toji and Sakura holding Rei's hands on one side, and holding Maya and Mana's hands on the other, respectively, and they held hands with each other. Maya looked around nervously. She started to say something, and then it was over before it started. The air pressure and temperature changed, and Sakura stumbled as the group broke their hand-hold, struggling for their footing, except for Rei. Maya doubled over and coughed.

"God, what is that smell? It's like rotten eggs."

Mana was leaning on the wall, choking. She shook away Sakura's attempt to steady her, until she found her feet and breathed in and out, slowly.

"I don't want to do that anymore."

"Me either," said Maya. "Where are we?"

"An antique book store," said Sakura. "Follow me."

She headed in, the others pushing the door open for each other behind her. She walked up to the desk where the old proprietor sat, staring with wizened eyes through half-moon reading glasses at an aged volume. Sakura felt a thrum of energy; some of the books in here were magic, but nothing out of the ordinary. He looked up, glanced at the people who had followed Sakura into the store, and looked at Mana.

"That young lady is going to have to put on a pair of shoes, or I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store."

"Do you know Barabbas?" said Sakura.

He put his book down and removed his spectacles. "Who doesn't?"

Sakura nodded if she knew what that meant and followed him. He pulled a key out of his pocket and walked into the back of the store. The front was all atmosphere, with wood paneling and built-in shelves and thick pile carpet, but the back was all business, dry and slightly cold, with a chemical tang to the air. He kept walking to the back, through rows of brightly lit shelves of old books. She glanced over her shoulder and looked at Toji, realizing how extreme a length she had to go to get him into a book store. The old man opened the very back door, and stood in the alleyway.

He looked at Sakura. "The way is dark and circuitous."

"Okay," said Sakura.

"Go down four doors," he said, "and take a left."

Sakura nodded, and walked. She counted four doors, and realized something was wrong. The others gathered up behind her. She looked back over her shoulder, past them, and realized she couldn't see the road in either direction- just rows of undifferentiated doors set in a brick wall. The sky overhead was cloudy, where it had been sunny when they arrived. She counted four doors, and found herself at a junction.

"Something weird is going on here," said Toji.

Sakura took the left and came to a door, like any other. When she looked back, they were all standing in a rather common alley- the sky had gone full bright, and she saw the flickering motion of cars on the road. A faint trickle of water ran down the middle of the asphalt between the buildings, and the sickly-sweet smell of a dumpster stung her nostrils. She opened the door and ushered the others inside.

The door opened onto an old-world bar or pub. The floor was rough, covered in empty peanut shells, and the place was packed with patrons sitting on high stools placed around the huge spools from telephone pole wires, set up to be used as tables. No one looked at her and the others as they walked inside. She headed for the bar; the bartender looked up at her, wiping a glass in his huge hands. He had a strange look about him; his hands were huge and inordinately hairy, and there were big tufts of gray hair in his ears, the only hair on his head.

"You're expected. Back corner."

Sakura turned and walked to the back of the bar. Kaji was sitting at the table, his back settled in the corner itself, drinking something brown from a wide glass. He looked them over without a hint of surprise, and fixed his eyes on Maya.

"Miss, you're looking a little green. I think you have a condition."

Maya stared at him. Her expression was neutral but her eyes were angry.

"Are you doing anything later? I can win quite a bit of money in an office pool if I get you drunk enough, I think. The boys in your office are wondering if you're all green, if you catch my meaning."

Maya clenched her teeth. "Careful."

He put his glass down. "No, sugartits. You be careful. You don't know what you're dealing with."

He was looking at Sakura. He winked, and lifted his hand. He was seated under a window, light streaming over him, motes of dust dancing over his head. He tilted his hand to the side, bathing it in shadow, and clenched it into a fist. Flames flared around his skin, and then it began to slough off, like cooked meat off a bone. Sakura somehow managed to keep her face neutral as sweat popped out on her forehead. She looked at the flaming, skeletal hand, and took a good long look until, with great effort, Kaji pulled it back into the light. His hand was just a hand again.

"I know you're on a schedule, sorceress. This is the deal. I conduct you and your crew to your destination. When you're ready to leave, I pick you up. When the job is done, you pay me back."

"How?"

"I have a condition of my own," he said. "I made a bad deal, and I want out. I have this thing in me and I want you to get rid of it. Permanently. I don't care how, but it gets done."

"Don't you want payment up front?"

"My sources tell me you won't be up to the task until you finish the job and pick up the merchandise."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "What sources?"

"Tricks of the trade, sweetheart. Just let me make it clear to you- you may be able to do the job after you get back, but you'll never be in my league with this thing in me. If you don't live up to your end, you'll bleed. I promise."

"I don't like threats," said Sakura. "We're leaving."

"You need me."

"I'll find another way."

She started to turn.

"Do you know what it feels like to have a soul?"

She stopped. "Why do you ask?"

"The answer is no," said Kaji. "Nobody knows what it feels like to have one until you don't anymore. I'm in a bad way. I need this."

Sakura clasped her hands behind her back. "Do you know the story of the fox and the scorpion?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," said Kaji. "I'm drowning already. Trust me, or don't. You know you're supposed to be here, or you wouldn't be."

"We have a bargain," said Sakura. "You will provide us the transportation we need. In exchange I will exorcise the spirit that binds you."

"Swear it."

"I swear."

That, it seemed, was enough. Kaji got up, downed the rest of his drink, and winced, a little theatrically. "Follow me."

He led them through the bar- to a different door, on the other side. Kaji turned a key in the lock, and opened it. The air on the other side was cool, and hinted of oil. Sakura stepped inside; Kaji came in last, nudging Toji out of the way, quite deliberately. Toji glared at him, but he looked a little pale. He'd seen the hand too, after all. Sakura looked around. The door had opened onto a hangar- a huge one, at that. The air smelled cool and stale. Several vehicles of varying shapes and sizes were covered in drop cloths that were heavy with dust, but the craft in the middle was pristine.

It reminded Sakura of an arrowhead- it was sleek, black, and looked like it was going fast, even standing still. She knew little of mechanical things but she could see the vents on the underside for vertical takeoff and landing. It was big, too, bigger than she realized as she started walking towards it.

"What is this?"

"The owners called it the Blackbird," said Kaji.

"It's yours?" said Sakura.

"No, but taking things that aren't mine is a specialty of mine. Don't worry, Sinister stole it, too."

"What?" said Maya. "Where are we?"

"Nerv headquarters," said Kaji. "In a closed off hangar behind a sealed wall. The rest of the base doesn't know this is here. There's a hidden exit tunnel that way we can fly out of. Sinister had this place set up to make a quick getaway in his stolen jet. He liked to collect trophies, apparently. Got quite a few of them in here."

"Trophies?" said Toji.

"From the superheroes him and his buddies murdered," said Kaji. "Let's get moving. Daylight's wasting, and we have a twelve hour flight ahead of us."

* * *

Hikari was, as they say, minding her own business.

Not exactly- she if she was minding her own business, she'd be in her newly procured dormitory room. She'd set her stuff in there that morning, then gone to class, and she hadn't been back- she didn't even know who she roomed with, and she didn't particularly care. They say a man with money to spend has cash burning a hole in his pocket. Hikari's spider-suit, which she had not returned to Ritsuko, was burning a hole in her backpack. She was walking around downtown now, convinced she was going to get some air, when in reality she was trolling for something to set off her spider-sense, to give her an excuse. Shinji was back at the dorms brooding, and now they couldn't get any quiet time together, so no necking sessions until they could get away from the school. Kodama was actually happy about that! Her sister was her warden, now!

She felt a faint flicker, just a subtle pulse, and stopped. There was a knot of Latverians ahead. They were all over the city now. Part of downtown was blocked off with those concrete rails and big blocky armored personnel carriers, which were much uglier than the Nerv model. The big ships had all landed in the ocean, but she could almost feel their presence, like a sword dangling over all their heads. The Latverian soldiers were strolling down the sidewalk, openly gawking at women going about their business and snickering at each other. Hikari moved to the edge of the sidewalk, watching them out of the corner of her eye, pretending to look at the sidewalk as they passed.

One of them looked at her and made a comment to the others about jail time, and she tensed. They all started laughing, and a couple glanced back at her. One of them looked at the others and made another joke she couldn't hear, and there was more laughter. They seemed to forget her as they moved on, the disgusting perverts. Hikari stopped when they were a ways away, far enough not to notice her watching, and she clenched her fists when she saw one of them pull at some woman's skirt. She swiped at them and rushed on, not looking back, running in that funny awkward way women do when they have to move quickly in heels. A man said something to him, and got a shove for his trouble.

Hikari was sliding her backpack off her shoulder, before she realized it. She stopped; she couldn't risk it, not over that. The thought was alien, icy, and stabbed her in the gut as soon as she thought it. She had to leave well enough alone, didn't she? Could she pick a fight with a bunch of soldiers in broad daylight? Could she rely on a pair of goggles to protect her identity? She thought about Ritsuko and Kodama and stopped, slipped the straps back on her shoulders. She had a responsibility to them, too, and those men hadn't done anything worse than a group of boys or a salaryman on the train might do.

Right?

It didn't feel that way as he walked on. The city had a quiet rhythm to it, like it was hiding, pulled up and holding its breath. She stopped a corner and looked at the newsstand set against the wall- half the news magazines were missing, and there were newspapers. Something about that bothered her. She walked up to the stand, glancing at the fashion magazines and the skin books and hentai manga peeking over the plastic wall that obscured their covers on the top shelf.

"Where's all your stuff?"

The proprietor was somebody's grandmother, or she was running for the office. She turned her head to look up at Hikari. "The delivery man said they've seized the newspapers and the magazines."

"They who?"

The old woman glanced at another cluster of the foreign soldiers. "Them."

Hikari looked over at them and clenched her jaw. One of them saw and made a lewd gesture implying an activity he would like to engage in with her that would likely be very uncomfortable.

"You be careful," the old woman said. "Those boys are looking for a girl like you."

"No," said Hikari. "They're not looking for a girl like _me. _Take care."

The old lady grunted. Hikari walked on, tugging at the strap of her backpack. She felt coiled up, like her muscles were steel wires. She needed to swing. What could it hurt?

She found an alley, ducked inside, and looked around. After a few minutes of awkwardly hopping around in her underwear, she had Ritsuko's special suit on- it tightened up on her automatically, like the pilots' plugsuits did, though it was a smidge less revealing. She put on her goggles and tightened them up, tying her hair up into a ponytail, and shortened up the straps of her pack, now carrying her civvies. A short dance up the wall later, she was swinging. The air rushed around her, and the familiar sensation of not-quite falling seized her. She let her mind drift as her body did the work, stretching her out, her sense of danger making sure every web-line struck true as the world pitched and yawed beneath her. In a few minutes her headache was gone, and after maybe half an hour she felt great, the suit wicking sweat away from her skin. Despite the chill in the air as the sun headed for the horizon, she was getting nice and warmed up, as from a long jog.

When she reached the top of an arc, she jumped and palmed the corner of a building, then pulled her up to perch and look down. The cars on the road swept back and forth in even, soothing patterns. Everything was normal, and she was just feeling tense. She sat down, and a pigeon flapped by her head. She tilted out of the way, ignoring it. Nothing really surprised her now that most things that might hurt her gave her fair warning. She yawned, the fatigue of the school day starting to fall on her shoulders.

The day had been tough- the school was tense. Word was there would be some _exchange students_ joining them soon, and Mari was practically clawing at the walls, ranting at anyone who would listen how they Latverians wouldn't return her phone calls. Hikari wondered how they hell she got their number. Lawson waved her off and refused to see her after school; she wanted to lay everything out to him about Ritsuko and ask him what she should do. She'd re-read _The Trial of Peter Parker_ all in one night, and had been yawning all day, and was lost in Miss Katsuragi's math class.

Everything looked right, but things had a way of looking right even when they were very wrong.

When she happened to glance at a lone woman walking down the street, she found herself unable to look away. She dismissed the feeling as paranoia, but she stood up anyway, feeling that familiar tension settling on the back of her neck, threatening to buzz. She leaned forward, too far for someone whose feet didn't stick to bricks, and watched. A group of Latverians, maybe the same one as earlier, maybe not, were walking behind the lone woman. Hikari tried to dismiss the thought as paranoia; they weren't following her, they were just going the same way. She was just being paranoid.

Except, they were walking faster.

The street was narrow enough that there was no need to swing, so she jumped, and moved along the rooftops- she wasn't going to beat them up for being a hurry. Then, the one in front, obviously the leader, shouted.

"Hey, hey you. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

The woman looked at them with a "who, me?" expression, then quickened her pace. The four soldiers quickened in turn. They started to play a game, each speeding up, until finally the woman was running and they were running her down. One of them grabbed her skirt, pulled. She went down. Hikari saw a flash of her legs- her stockings were torn and her knees were bleeding, split open by the sidewalk. She started to move, scuttling down the building, seeing red.

Another Latverian rounded the corner, and Hikari stopped, clinging to the building. By the greebles on his uniform, he was important, an officer maybe.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The leader of the little group saluted. "This woman fell, sir. We were offering to assist her."

Hikari snorted. Right.

"Is that was happened?"

The woman's voice was shaking me. "They tripped me. He pulled my skirt," she pointed at the one that did it.

The officer looked at her, his eyes narrowing under his silly hat. "You will not spread lies about the conduct of Latverian soldiers."

"What?" the woman said. "I didn't, they-"

"You," he looked through her, at the men, "Arrest her."

"_What?__"_

Hikari moved so fast, she blurred. She pounced down off the roof, landed on the shoulders of the lead Latverian enlisted man and pushed him off his feet, bounced back, crouched on the wall, bounced down onto her palms, did a handstand, and kicked her feet out, twisting. Suddenly they were all on the ground, sprawled out in a ring around her. She cartwheeled to her feet and pure instinct made her dodge. She didn't so much duck the bullet as duck where it was going to be a second later, leaving the officer staring at her in confusion for a moment before he fired again, missed again, and she thwipped a gummy blop of webbing around his hand, jamming up the mechanism. He looked at her for a second, then broke into a run.

He didn't make it far. A line to his ankle pulled him off his feet. His nose fared poorly when it hit the ground. The poor woman screamed, ran, and Hikari didn't stop her.

An hour later, another group of Latverians out seeing the sights while they were off duty found four of their comrades webbed to the base of a street lamp. A young lieutenant was hanging upside down in much the same way, with a note taped to his chest. Written in a large, childish scrawl in magic marker was a simple message.

_To: Doctor Doom_

_From: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Girl_

_:3_

* * *

"Why the Two Thieves?" said Sakura.

"You know that story?" said Kaji.

She looked over her should. The others were asleep. The Blackbird was above cloud level- the clouds were a roiling see of fluff beneath them, lit from their underside by the setting sun, a pool of gold on the horizon, lending the sea its hue. Kaji kept the plane level, and Sakura, frankly didn't want to go to sleep next to him. She looked out the window. She shook her head; she didn't know what he meant.

"From the Christian Bible. Jesus was on the cross, and with him were two thieves. They have this conversation."

"Uh huh," said Sakura.

"One of the thieves made fun of Jesus," said Kaji. "Asked him why he didn't use his powers to get them down off the crosses. Attack the Romans like he did the moneychangers in the temple, that kind of thing. That was thief on his left. The thief on his right was named Dismas, and he told the other thief to leave Jesus alone. He told the other thief that the only one who deserved to get off the cross was Jesus- they were both guilty. Then he asked Jesus to remember him."

"Yeah?" said Sakura.

"So Jesus said to the penitent thief, 'you will be with me this day in paradise.'"

"Why did you name your bar after them?"

"It's a long story," said Kaji, "and it's not my bar. I inherited it."

"We have time," Sakura yawned, staring into the clouds.

"I was a kid. About your age. When the waves from Second Impact hit, my family was far enough inland to survive. Most of it. My father was killed in a train wreck. My mother was with me. We lived by a freak of chance- we were going to a doctor's office on the fourth floor of a building. The offices on either side were swept away, but ours held up long enough for us to get out. The water receded after a few hours, but it was up to our knees for a month. It takes a long time for that amount of water to drain.

"Things were weird at first. Nobody knew how to react. There were no phones, no radio, nothing. Everything died, the whole grid. Nobody knew where the government was. I saw the mushroom cloud when Tokyo was bombed. No one knew why, or by who. The Chinese, the Americans, everybody was blamed. They said the Americans caused the waves somehow, no, the Chinese did, no it was Doctor Doom, world domination and all that," he chuckled. "They were kind of right, but that's another story.

"Things settled after a while, but it was tough. Brutal. The Defense Forces ran things, but it wasn't really the Defense Forces. They were the only ones who were armed, who were organized. They divided people up by age. My mother was taken with all the other women, shipped off. We were told it was for a labor camp. They were put to work, but they weren't hoeing fields or digging ditches, if you get what I mean. I never saw her again. The kids were on our own. I wasn't old enough to be taken with the men to work but I was older than some of the others. I fell in with some of them, became their leader.

"They didn't give us much food. We started to steal. Word was there were rations for the taking, so I got together a group of guys and we went to steal them. It worked. We stole some more. Soon we were selling stuff. I got word of where my mom was, joined in this kind of underground that was forming. I got my gang together. We were going to go find our mothers and get them out of there. By the time all this happened I was old enough to know why they separated the women from the men for the labor camps.

"It went bad. We were going to be caught. I prayed."

"You prayed?" said Sakura.

"I prayed. I prayed hard. Somebody answered me. Came right up to us in a black suit, smoking a cigarette. Except nobody moved, or breathed, or saw or talked to him but me. He said to me, 'I have a task for you my son, and if you do as I ask you will have bounty and riches all your life. Name your hearts desire, and you'll have it.'"

"What did you ask for?"

"I told him I wanted another chance. I just wanted to get out of this alive with my crew. I didn't know who he was, or what I was offering. He offered me a piece of paper- a contract. Cut my thumb with a black knife, and sealed a compact in blood. I got what I wanted. We got out of the camp alive, but we never found our mothers. Set a few other women free, but not the ones we were looking for, and nobody we talked to knew who or where they were.

"We got out of there alive, just like he said. We made it halfway back to the boy's camp when a patrol found us, opened up on us with machine guns. Everybody died but me."

"Oh," said Sakura. "I'm so sorry."

"Spare me. I thought the deal was broken. Nothing happened, so I assumed I was free. Things went back to normal. It was shocking how fast things got put back together. The government came out of the Geofront, like they had been expecting the whole thing. People whispered about that, but nobody did anything about it. Rubble was cleared, a new capital built, and a new new capital. They told us there was a war coming, but never said with who or why, and we believed it because we wanted things to be normal. As long as the war was coming soon but not here today, no one cared.

"It feels like a dream. I went to college. College! My friends died in a ditch and I went to college to study _journalism. _I met a beautiful woman. She's your teacher now. She teaches math. She's beautiful and perfect and she teaches math. She wears lavender perfume and under that Professor Battleaxes pantsuit she wears she's got on garters and frilly underwear, the gauzy stuff of an adolescent boy's dreams. I was going to marry her. I showed her a ring. Now she's dating the Norse god of mischief."

"What happened?"

"The man in black came back," he said. "Came up to me while I was on my way up to her apartment. Said to me 'I'm the friendly stranger in the black sedan, why don't you take a ride inside my car?' I didn't have a choice. I rode in the car, and I heard it all laid out.

"Our bargain was fulfilled, just like he said. We made it out of the camp alive. That we didn't make it any further wasn't his fault. He was a busy man, he said, so he didn't come to collect for a while. I knew why he waited. He wanted to sweeten the deal with some pain, flavor it. He's got all the time in the world, after all. That's when he put the demon inside me. He didn't tell me why, but all I know is that at night, in the presence of evil, the Rider takes over. I had no choice. I left Misato; I knew she'd never believe me and she wouldn't believe a lie, so I figured it would be better to say nothing at all."

Sakura nodded.

He went on. "I decided to dedicate my life to the truth. What life I have, anyway. I thought I could use this thing for good, if I was stuck with it. I have a measure of control over it, but it slips. It gets ahead of me. It's hard to describe. I think it's insane. It isn't good or evil, it's just this… this force of destruction. Sometimes I think it _wants_ to be good. It came out the night the Russians attacked, came out hard. I barely remember… but I remember the screaming, the sound of breaking bones and the smell of burning flesh. Nothing smells like that, nothing. Anyone who says it smells like pork is fucking with you."

Sakura looked at him. "Why didn't you tell me before? I would have helped you."

"I don't know," he said. "Look down."

She did. The sky had cleared. She could see lights blinking on the ocean, rising and falling with high ocean waves.

"What is that?"

"The UN perimeter," said Kaji. "Here be dragons."

After a while, he started the descent. Toji woke up first, then the others, blinking awake, yawning. The plane tilted back as it came in for landing, which was weird, then leveled off again as the VTOL system rumbled to life. Suddenly they were in an amusement park ride, jouncing this way and that as the wind pushed on the plane. Kaji brought it down in an open field, surrounded by scrub grass. It was dark, but it looked surprisingly normal, just some open space somewhere- no radioactive zombies or giant lizards. Sakura undid her safety harness.

"There's backpacks in the cargo hold," said Kaji. "I packed you some rations, tents, a few liters of water and some high quality purification kits. Travel at dawn and dusk, stay low, and stay out of sight. Whatever you see, get where you're going, and don't get involved."

"That's kind of you," said Sakura.

He snorted. "I need you alive on the other side, remember?"

"What happens then?" she said. "How do we contact you?"

He handed her a small box. On top was a red plate that covered a switch.

"Turn that on. I'll find you, even if you're moving."

Sakura got up. Maya stretched her legs, and stared wide-eyed through the windows. Mana seemed indifferent to everything, and still hadn't put on any shoes. Rei and Toji remained close, holding hands. Sakura sighed, and put on her pack. The others did the same. She felt a twisting clench of fear as the ramp at the rear of the plane lowered, and she stepped down onto foreign soil for the first time in her life, realizing suddenly how totally unprepared for this she was. She had to trust in fate. It hit her again. Five go. Four come back.

Kaji didn't step off. She looked back up at him.

"You never told me what any of that had to do with the name of your bar."

He hit the button to raise the ramp, and as he disappeared within it, he called down to her. "I should have remembered the two thieves."

They stood in a half-circle and watch the Blackbird lift up- when it was perhaps a hundred feet overhead, it shimmered, and simply vanished. That must have been why no one noticed that they'd gone.

Sakura looked at the others. Kaji had been kind enough to provide a compass. She figured out which way was East, and she started walking.


	19. Look Who's Coming to Dinner

Marvel Crossover

_Last time on…_

**AGE OF MARVELS**

_In secret, Sakura made her preparations to travel to North America, cross it, and recover the lost treasures of the Sanctum Sanctorum, home of her mentor, Doctor Strange. She was tasked with gathering companions to accompany her, warned by Loki that she would take five, but four would return. In the end she ended up recruiting her twin brother, naturally, and Rei would not let Toji leave without her, but it was by pure chance that Mana Kirishima and Maya Ibuki ended up coming along. Together, they traveled to the mysterious bar called the Two Thieves, headquarters of the criminal fraternity headed by Ryoji Kaji, a man whose grapples with his inner demons are a bit more literal than usual. Kaji offered Sakura a deal- transportation in return for help in removing the demonic entity that plagues him in the dark, the result of a bad deal that destroyed whatever his life may have been. _

_ Having gathered her allies, Sakura accept his offer and traveled by the legendary Blackbird jet to the coast of North America, a blighted and ruined land that was devastated by the great disaster of Second Impact. _

_ Back in Tokyo-3, tensions continued to rise as the Latverian presence began a military occupation of the city in all but name. When a few Latverians began harassing a local woman, they had an unfortunate encounter with a certain friendly neighborhood Spider-Girl…_

_ Everywhere in the city, people are diving into two camps- those who see Doom and his occupation as a necessary evil, and those who want them out… _

* * *

"**LOOK WHO'S COMING TO DINNER"**

* * *

She huddled against the wall, wedged in between two of the big machines. Her arms were crossed under her chest, trying to hold back the blood. It poured out of her, over her arm and down the front of the latex suit she wore, and crusted in the places where it folded. She felt cold and lightheaded, and knew she was going to die. Daddy told her that he was taking her with him to Antarctica so she could see the dinosaurs. He said nothing about any experiments or tests until they arrived and she had to put on this skintight suit. She hated it, hated feeling exposed in front of all these old men, and her father. It made her feel naked. It was worse when they put her in the big tube.

There was nothing after that. She didn't remember how she got out, or show she got here. It was as if the rest of her life was a dream, and she simply materialized under a countertop, wedged in between two machines. She shivered and hugged her bleeding body and tried not to cry and failed. She kept her teeth clenched tightly shut but the wails of anguish got out anyway. Her Daddy _left_ her here, just _left. _She could hear noises coming from everywhere, through the walls. There was a spinning red light on the ceiling that was flashing and there was a horrible alarm sounding and she was sure she was going to die. There were cracks in the walls, and the floor was shaking.

She heard voices, and huddled up under the counter. The door moved, but didn't open. She watched it with wide eyes, and tasted blood in her mouth. It shook, and tented inwards with a hollow boom, and then blew open. Smoke poured through, and she saw shapes in the darkness, moving towards her. Someone came into the room, coughing and hacking, a man in a long jacket with a mask over his face that was red and had big, silvery eyes. She huddled up against the wall and tried to hide, but he knew where she was and came over to her, kneeling in front of the counter. He was bleeding from a wound in his side, and he was limping. He rested on one knee and looked at her.

"Come on," he said, offering her his hand.

She shook her head. The world was going blurry.

"It's okay, honey," the man murmured, reaching out for her. "You can't stay here."

"I can't find my Daddy," she croaked.

He closed his fist around his mask, pulled it off and tossed it aside. He was just a man, old- old enough to be her grandfather, she thought, and somehow knew he was older than his years. He had gray hair and kind eyes, and he reached out to her with both hands, ignoring his own pain. Slowly, she pushed herself out of her hiding spot and took his hand. He pulled her out with stunning strength and lowered her to the floor, cradling her head. He looked down at her stomach and chest.

"You're hurt, hon. I have to close this up."

He lifted her arms gently to the side, and she flinched as he reached down to touch the cut. He did something funny with his hand, folding back the middle and ring finger, clicking a switch, and a thin streamer of some silvery substance shot out and covered her cut, and started to soak through with red. He layered it on until she was completely covered, then slid his arms under her and lifted her up. She curled up, wincing at the pain from her wound, and fell against his chest.

A woman came through the door. She was old and thin, and had blue eyes like the sky. Her hair was silvery and tied up in a loose ponytail, and she was bleeding from her nose.

"Peter!" she cried, running towards the man.

"Sue? Where's Johnny?"

"He didn't make it."

She felt a shock pass through the man carrying her. "Christ. I'm sorry."

She brushed at her eyes. "We have to go, Peter. The whole place is coming down."

He nodded, panting for breath. His own wound pained him, she knew. He lifted her up and she put her arms around his neck, and he followed the old woman. She looked like she was nice, and she had been pretty when she was younger. The man followed her through the lab. The machine was visible through the shattered remains of the window, all torn up and broke now. The big metal tube was pieces, folded up against the wall, and the side of the lab opened onto the sky.

The sky was _wrong_. Something terrible was happening.

The man carried her, and as he did, he spoke.

"Where are the others? Tony? Hank?"

"Stark is dead," she said, flatly. "It was Doom. Hank, too. They're all gone, Peter. I think it's just us."

"No. That's not possible."

She looked at him. She was crying, but silently. He kept moving, carrying the girl in his arms.

"There's escape pods, or there were. This way."

The girl didn't know her way around; she only went where Daddy took her. The man carrying her knew his way somehow, and the old woman deferred to his movements in an odd, knowing way. He kicked open a door and they walked into a big room; one side was a row of tubes that went into the wall, and they were all open and empty.

"Bastards," the old woman snapped. "They must have launched the rest when they left."

The man carrying her said nothing and kept walking, until he saw what he was looking for. One of the tubes was filled with a white pod that looked like an egg. It was twisted, and there were sparks coming out of the track that carried it into the wall. He lowered the girl to the floor and crouched next to it.

"It's jammed," he said. "I think I can work it lose."

"It's not big enough for all of us," said the woman.

The man stood up. "No, it isn't."

He flinched, then moved with shocking speed, covering her with his body. Streams of dust came down the roof as a great boom shook the floor, and the far wall came open with a terrible shearing sound, buckling inwards and opening up onto the sky. A great cold wind howled through it, and ate all the warmth in the girl's body. The man grunted and shoved aside a piece of debris. The woman stood in the middle of a bubble, though the girl couldn't really see it, just the outline where the dust had settled on it, then fell as it vanished. She was breathing hard.

"I'm not what I used to be," she said, her voice shaking.

"None of us are," said the man. "How did it come to this?"

"I don't know, I… Look!"

The girl looked along with them. Something was moving in the distance. It was standing up, unfolding. It rose up, flexing its enormous body, and light poured from its skin in waves. The light seared into her, but it was cold. She felt it tugging at her, pulling at her, and it sounded like her Daddy. She reached towards it, and then she saw the other figure, the man who appeared in front of it, standing between the girl and the giant of light. He was very big, and he was green.

"Banner!" the man that had carried her shouted. "Banner, _get out of there_!"

The green giant looked over his shoulder, and he was smiling. He crouched and bulged, massively muscled frame bunching and twisting, and with a howl of animal fury leapt at the titanic being, which turned to regard him with all the consideration a man might give a particularly interesting insect.

The man turned away, and wrenched the pod open. He pulled up the door, gathered the girl up in his arms, and lowered her inside, into a padded seat. It hurt when he put the seat belt on her, but he did it anyway, ignoring her feeble protest, crossing it over her chest in an X. He reached up to close the door.

"Hold on, hon. You're going to make it."

"Peter…" said the woman.

"I think it'll hold if I web it up. If you can give us a shield..."

She looked at him for a moment, and then nodded. He closed the pod, and she was in darkness, but could still hear.

"We're not going to make it," the woman said.

"No, but we got the girl out."

She felt a lurch, and the pod began to move, grinding on its track.

"You're one of a kind, Pete."

"See you on the other side, Sue."

Then came the roar, and thereafter, silence.

Misato bolted upright in bed, panting for breath, coated in sweat. The dream, again. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rocked until the pain in her old scar began to fade, and let out a slow breath. She looked to her side; the bed was empty and she was alone, the sheets cold. Slowly, she lowered herself back down and folded the sheets up around her neck, and looked at the clock. She had to be to work in an hour and a half, just enough time to fall back into a groggy-near sleep.

* * *

She was still getting used to this. Hikari woke up, hit the alarm clock to silence it -gingerly, lest it explode- and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, yawning. Kaworu stirred in her sleep, her pouf of unkempt silver hair swaying lazily as she sat up in the bed and drew her knees up to her chest, then stared down at her toes. Hikari pointedly didn't look at her; she didn't mean to be rude, but they shared a room. They weren't automatically best friends. Kaworu was… uncomfortable with the entire situation, as she'd apparently had the room to herself. It was clear in the way her half of the room was kept- there were underwear and bras strewn everywhere, and she piled her clothes up _on top_ of the dresser, and kept her cash in the top drawer- her father, who she never referred to by name but frequently alluded to, wired her an allowance every week, which just piled up. Since the school year she'd managed to stuff a whole drawer with cash. Hikari sighed.

Soon, she would be spending some of it. When Hikari first moved in, Kaworu was sleeping on the bare mattress she'd been issued along with the room; Hikari had lent her a pillow and her top sheet, and Kaworu always curled up in a ball while she slept, hugging the pillow to her chest. The only clothes she had were school uniforms and the dress she'd bought for the dance, which was also the only thing hanging in her closet. She peeked in on it sometimes, secretly, and it made Hikari feel guilty to intrude on it.

"Hey," Hikari yawned. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Kaworu mumbled, running her fingers through her hair in a futile attempt to tame it.

Hikari shrugged and went about her business- she turned her back and slipped out of her pajamas, wrapped herself up in a towel and went to get in line for the showers. The others were all lined up- Mari was impatiently tapping her foot in front of Hikari, cat ears twitching in every direction. Hikari looked away from her, pointedly. Mari glanced over her should, only then noticed or, or seemed to, and narrowed her eyes.

"Haven't heard anything, huh?" said Hikari.

Mari kept her mouth pressed tightly shut, and turned away from her. Hikari sighed, and tapped her foot impatiently. A shower stall opened up, and the line lurched forward, then again. When it was her turn, Hikari kept it quick; they were running out of time. She scrubbed her hands through her hair and tied it up in a loose ponytail while it was still wet, dried herself quickly, and slipped into her clothes as quickly as she could. Her costume was packed in her backpack, under her books. She didn't feel safe leaving it in her locker anymore, and she wasn't going to walk around with it under her uniform. She shouldered her bag, spotted Kaworu in line and waved to her, and ducked back to the room to make sure the door was locked before stepping outside.

The morning was crisp and the chill pulled all the warmth out of her body by the hair; it made her shiver. She walked around the dorms to the front of the complex, where she used to step off the train and head into the building. The usual mass of students was there, and she quickly spotted Shinji standing in the crowd, off by himself. She moved to his side quickly, and touched his arm. He rounded on her, his face twisted in anger. He pointed at one of the big brick columns that flanked the doors to the school.

"Was that you?"

Hikari looked at the column and gulped. There was a wanted poster on it, with a blurry picture of, yes, her in her costume, and it offered a substantial reward for information leading to her capture. Hikari stared at it and swallowed again, against a dry throat. Shinji was furious. She could practically feel it, like standing under high-tension wires. He practically choked the strap on his bag, and clenched his teeth.

"I had no choice."

"Hikari," he said, his voice cracking. "You _can't_."

"I have to," she snapped back, trying to keep her voice even, not draw any attention. "I saw somebody in trouble. You think I should have just passed on by?"

"What were you doing there in the first place?"

She shrugged. "I went for a swing."

"Don't do that anymore."

She cocked her hip. "Excuse me? You're not my dad."

"But I…"

A wave crashed over his face. His eyebrows shot up and his mouth opened a little wider, and she saw something in his eyes, and it looked a lot like fear. Whatever he started to say, he clicked his mouth shut and looked at her, hurt, his eyes watering a little until he brushed with a clenched fist. She suddenly felt immensely guilty, like she'd wounded him personally, and she felt herself melting, shoulders slumping. She looked away and scuffed her foot on the ground. After what he'd been through with his mother and father, she understood why he was angry.

That didn't take her responsibility away.

"Sorry," she muttered, "but I _can't_. I can't leave it alone. I have a responsibility."

"Why? Because you read it in some book?"

She felt a flush of heat on her face.

"What's wrong with you?"

He scrubbed his hands through his hair. "How many times to I have to tell you? You don't know what you're dealing with. None of you do. I _lived_ there. Do you think that you can just get away with beating up Latverians?"

"Do you think I should have let them harass that woman? Or worse?"

"Did you check the news, or the Internet or anything?" said Shinji.

"No," said Hikari. "I had to catch up on my math homework, and I was tired. Why?"

Shinji made a small, apologetic little gesture that broke through his anger. "They arrested her anyway, when she refused to tell them anything about you."

She was about to say something, when she felt a pinch at the back of her neck. It settled into a low, menacing buzz as the train pulled to a stop. She felt a momentary flash of terror as a pair of Latverian officers stepped off, but they didn't look towards Hikari. Instead, they made way for the Latverian pilots, the blonde and the English kid, and a cluster of others behind them, all in crisply pressed school uniforms.

* * *

Time decided to tick by slowly as Asuka lay in the bed, the towering form of Victor von Doom looming over her. If he'd stood in front of the small window he'd have blotted out the sun. She resisted the urge to turn away, feeling her cheeks heating, and reflexively smoothed the sheets that covered her, finally gripping them in her fists to keep from pulling them up around her neck, like a child. Doom said nothing but stood over her, and she stared into his eyes, the only part of him she ever saw, and swallowed.

"Father."

"**Your risks are excessive. You will exercise greater care in the future.**"

"Yes," she said, looking down at her feet.

"**Look at me when you speak to me.**"

She hurriedly snapped her gaze to meet his, and held it, trying not to let her eyes water. She gripped the sheets even tighter.

"Yes," she repeated. "I understand."

"**See that you do.**"

He turned, mechanical joints grinding, and stomped out of the room, and suddenly she was alone. Loneliness descended on her like a wave, and she grasped her sheets tightly in her hands, breathing raggedly and trying desperately to remember. Everything after Shinji dragged her away from the angel was a red haze of remembered pain, and she had a dull sense of some half-remembered presence speaking words she could remember hearing, but could not remember _understanding_. Slowly, she lifted the sheets, and then angrily threw them back.

She was intact. Her legs were fine, and she wriggled her toes for good measure. Ravenous hunger coiled in her stomach, appearing as the tension dissipated. Her father was forgotten in the primal need to feed, and so she mashed the call button by the bed. A frightened looking nurse appeared, received a sharp order for some damned food, and retreated. Not long afterwards, a meal cart was wheeled into her room and she dictated what she would eat, mostly meat, and refused the green gelatin. She chewed angrily and studied the column of light pouring through the window, thoughtfully. When she was finished eating, she pushed the call button again.

She was going back to school.

* * *

Shinji filled his tray, and headed out into the cafeteria. Hikari quickly found him, somehow easily balancing a tray in one hand that was precariously stacked with enough food for half a dozen people, and carrying a stack of juice boxes in her other hand. She moved with an easy, subtle grace, not paying attention to either hand, but kept them perfectly balanced anyway. He tensed up at the sight of her, angry with himself for being so short with her that morning, but he stuck to his conviction. He wouldn't let her get herself killed. He couldn't bear the thought of that.

"What's wrong? Did I do something else to make you mad?"

"No," he sighed, sliding into his seat.

She sat down next to him, and started the elaborate and fascinating process of eating all that food in twenty-five minutes. She didn't have much time to talk between sucking the juice boxes dry with a kind of vampiric intensity and shoveling food into her mouth. Shinji relaxed into the comfortable silence between them, and slowly she edged across the bench until their hips almost touched, and under the table she hooked her leg around his and nudged his foot, and he nudged back.

Then she froze, and her eyes went wide. Shinji was barely aware of it by the time her head whipped around.

"What are _they_ doing here?"

Shinji shivered and looked over his shoulder. The Latverian pilots walked into the cafeteria in Academy uniforms.

"Eating lunch," said Shinji. "They probably have to eat."

Hikari watched them as they got in line, the other students keeping a healthy distance. Shinji watched her, sensing the tension in her posture and the bunching of her shoulders under her jacket. She said she could sense danger before it happened, and he believed her completely. She clearly sensed it now, as she was visibly trying to relax, but her body wasn't letting her. She followed the other pilots with her gaze, then slowly turned around, but kept glancing over her shoulder.

"Do you think they're like us?" said Shinji.

"What, you think she's his girlfriend?"

Shinji sighed. "No. Mutants."

"Oh," said Hikari. "I don't know, maybe. I can't tell. I just know they're dangerous."

Shinji looked over his shoulder again, in time to see them approaching. They created a kind of bubble as they walked together through the cafeteria, students spreading out around them and shying away. They kept walking, right up to Shinji and Hikari's table, and sat down on the other side. The girl stared at Shinji, and slowly stabbed the straw into her juice box.

"Do you want to see our papers?" said Hikari.

Shinji winced. "Hikari…"

"Huh? What? I'm sorry, I never learned the proper way to greet the schutzstaffel when they sit down and pop a straw in their juice boxes."

"What?" said the girl, Maria. "What is that? What did you call me?"

Rashid shrugged. "She seems to be implying that we're Nazis."

"How dare you," Maria snapped. "Who are you to presume to speak to me?"

Hikari folded her hands, and it was an oddly predatory gesture. She leaned forward over her food. "You're not going to bully me."

"This is all so unnecessary," said Rashid, picking idly at his food. "I would expect some civility after we saved your lives."

"A giant radioactive lizard saved our lives," said Hikari.

"Only because you so-called pilots are grossly incompetent," said Maria, looking at Shinji. "Such nepotism."

"Yeah," said Hikari, before Shinji could say anything. "There's no nepotism in Asuka _von Doom_ getting picked to be a pilot. Nuh-uh."

"Her family name is all she has," said Maria. "If it weren't for her, I'd have been piloting Unit Two already. Fortunately, von Doom has decided to rectify his error by naming me field commander for future combat operations."

Shinji started. "What, you?"

"Yes, me. Other than Rash, I'm the only Eva pilot that's word a damn." She gestured at him. "We're here because of _talent_, not because of who are fathers are." She looked at Hikari. "Don't think that being chosen to pilot some little toy makes you my equal, girl. It's only out of deference to the boy that I don't chastise you for speaking to me that way."

Shinji expected Hikari to explode, but she didn't. Instead she looked past the girl and grinned, wolfishly. Mari was standing behind Maria, fists planted on her hips and a wild look on her face.

"You," Mari snapped.

"Another one," Maria sighed, waving her hand. "I'm trying to eat. Bother me later."

Mari slammed her hand down on the table and dragged it back, pulling up small, curled slivers with her claws. "Where. Is. Asuka."

Maria leaned back and looked at her, looked her up and down. "Interesting. This one has some spine. You should learn not to tempt your betters, kitty cat. I might decide to show you _my_ claws."

Mari bared her teeth. "You're not answering my question."

"It's not your problem," said Maria, shrugging. "Things are different, now. I doubt her father will permit your little _fling_. A princess is too important to play with kittens."

"Mari," said Shinji. "Calm down."

She glanced at him. "Stay out of this, Ikari."

Shinji breathed, and flexed his gift. Mari stiffened, her muscles struggling against her own bones. She looked at him again, through the corner of her eye, and he released her. Maria stood up, brushing past her, and walked off.

"You _asshole_," Mari hissed, "don't ever do that to me again."

"I might have saved your life," said Shinji.

"They took my life away," said Mari. "They took her to one of their ships, and I don't know where she is."

Hikari looked at the table. Shinji felt a pang of guilt as Mari stalked off, cold and twisted in his guts. The boy, Rash, cleared his throat.

"Ferrokinetic, I take it?"

Shinji looked at him. "Maybe."

The boy rolled his eyes. "I'm not a spy, Ikari. You lived in Latveria for some time; Doom already knows your power set."

Shinji sighed. "Yes, I'm a ferrokinetic."

Hikari was watching them, silently gone back to eating.

"I'm a terrakinetic," said Rash. "I could feel it when you used your power. That girl has metal on her bones, doesn't she?"

Shinji sighed, and nodded. "Yes."

"I must apologize for Maria. She can be… intense."

"She's an asshole," Hikari said, flatly.

To Shinji's surprise, Rash laughed. "I wouldn't put it in quite those terms. I work with her, fight beside her, and trust her with my life. That doesn't mean I like her."

Hikari's eyebrow lifted. "Huh. What's a terrakinetic?"

"I'd show you, but the school likely wouldn't like it. I can manipulate the earth."

"Manipulate how?" said Hikari.

"Move it about with my mind. I might be able to create a volcano one day, but I'm not quite that strong yet. I have other gifts, as well. I can sense disruptions in the magnetic field, for one."

Rash looked up. Shichi and Hachi walked to the table, and sat down behind identical trays of food, and started eating without comment. Rash was staring them, with particular intensity at Hachi.

"Where's Rei?" said Shinji.

The girls shrugged, again in a weirdly identical way. The perfect synchronization in their movements was broken only when Hachi noticed Rash staring at her, and looked down at her food. Shinji couldn't tell if she was blushing; her skin was _always_ bright red. Her tail, though, was moving back and forth, animatedly. Shichi noticed and looked at her oddly.

"She is not here," said Shichi.

"Ayanami," said Rash. "The Pilot of Unit Zero, correct?"

"That's right," said Shinji.

"I haven't seen Toji or Sakura either," said Hikari. "I share classes with her. Do you think they ran off somewhere together? Toji and your sister are…"

"Sister?" said Rash, looking at Shinji. "Your dossier doesn't say anything about a sister."

"Whoops," said Hikari.

* * *

When it rains, it pours. Ritsuko knew that old saw was true, as she was dealing with yet another Latverian inspection, and Maya hadn't shown up for work and wasn't answering her fucking phone. Ritsuko would go over and check on her later, but right now she was facing a dozen men in green uniforms poring through her engineering division, ostensibly searching for the escapees from the medical wing. Apparently, they might be hiding in Ritsuko's filing cabinet, coffee pot, or anyplace else the Latverians felt like sticking their noses. She'd already tucked away everything Iron Man related down in the old joint lab she used as a workshop, but she got nervous every time one of them neared the unused service platform that carried her down to it. One of the officers walked up to her.

"Your MAGI terminal has been modified."

Ritsuko shrugged. "I added a voice interface."

"This modification was not authorized."

"Yes it was. It was authorized. By me. I authorized it. I'm in charge of that."

The officer glared at her. "I was told to expect your indifference to procedure and chains of command."

"Then you were told right," said Ritsuko, rolling her eyes. She took a sip of coffee, winced. "Can I get back to work now? We have a lot to do down here. Repairs to the Evas, all that."

"Where is the armor, Akagi?"

Ritsuko tapped her chin theatrically. "Let me think… oh, that's right. It's up a pig's ass for a ham sandwich. Are you done, or what?"

The officer's lips tightened into a thin line. "Have your petty defiance, woman. You're being watched. You will make a mistake."

"Whatever," said Ritsuko.

They took their sweet time leaving, and they didn't clean up. Hyuga and Aoba ended up in her office, as Ritsuko rejiggered her paperwork back into piles. The organized clutter she'd built up, a kind of nest, really, was all disturbed and they'd probably buried something important under a stack of useless crap just to piss her off. Aoba looked at the crap pile flatly.

"Can we talk in here? Should we open all the water taps or something?"

"They bugged the place, I'm sure of it," said Ritsuko. "Don't say anything you might regret later."

"I was going to tearfully confess my love," said Aoba.

"You better mean love for Hyuga, technician," said Ritsuko. "Have either of you heard from Maya today?"

They both shook their heads.

"It's not like her to just skip out on work. I'm the one that's supposed to be passed out somewhere and ignoring phone calls. I'm starting to freak out."

She let them get back to work. She had hers. The first thing she did was order the MAGI to sweep for bugs. She didn't plan to remove them, she just wanted to know where they were and what their capabilities would be. She had plenty of legitimate work to do, and settled down in front of her terminal, gently pushing the cold cup of coffee across the desk. They were starting to pile up again- six of them sat in a little row, gradually congealing in the bottoms of their cups. She drummed her fingers on the desk, looked at another freaking requisition form, and ran her fingers through her hair. Her back was throbbing steadily, but she hadn't felt any sharp pains in a while. Nevertheless, she pulled a pill bottle out of her coat, opened it, and popped one, just to take the edge off.

The menial tasks were piling up. She had a week's worth of unread emails, and in her current state she couldn't look at a form without her brain fuzzing over. She starting going through the emails, ticking them off. Nerv may have had the most sophisticated computer systems on Earth, but she was still besieged by emails promising to enlarge her penis. The rest were all office crap- she forwarded them to Maya's email box, and thus they passed into the blissful land of Someone Else's Problem. There was one that caught her attention.

"It can't be," she muttered.

There was a message titled INVITATION from a Shiro Tokita. She knew the man, although it felt like a million years ago- she'd shot him down in high school. Repeatedly. He stalked her in college a little, too, until someone put out the rumor that she was a lesbian- which was untrue, but suited her just fine; those sorts of entanglements were so messy and so _inefficient_. Her mother had been the same way, she knew. When Ritsuko was old enough to understand that Tab A went into Slot B, Naoko made it clear that while she enjoyed the process of creating Ritsuko very much, there was little need after that for the other participant to hang around. Ritsuko had never met him.

She opened the message. She read it.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," she muttered.

* * *

Kaworu filled her lunch tray -being careful to choose a balanced selection that included fruits, vegetables and fiber- paid with her identification card, and went to sit down. Kensuke was sitting by himself, tinkering with one of the little machines he carried around in his backpack. She sat down next to him and, as he had seen some of the other students do, made sure to scoot her backside closer to him. He looked up at her, smiled, and continued fiddling.

"What is that?"

"I don't know."

"Then why are you making it?"

He shrugged. "It wants to be made."

She peeked into his backpack. He carried it everywhere, but it had no books in it. Instead, it was filled with his machines- she had erroneously called them toys once, which greatly irritated him. He brushed his mop of hair out of his eyes, set the device on the table, and it unfolded, extending six thin metal legs that made it look like a disembodied claw. It stood up, beeped, and looked around the room with a pair of black camera-eyes that reminded her of an insect. It then promptly crawled into the backpack and disappeared. Kensuke stared at the table.

"You seem upset," said Kaworu.

He slid an envelope towards her.

"This was stuck in my locker this morning."

Kaworu took the letter and carefully opened it, removed the letter inside and unfolded it on the table, spreading it with her delicate fingers. She bit her lip as she read, which drew Kensuke away from his sulking. She became conscious of him watching her, and in a moment of distraction lost her place in the letter and had to start over. He waited patiently for her to finishing reading, which she did, and then stared at it for a while.

"You're been selected to be an Eva pilot," she said, breathless.

He took the letter back. "It's not a _real_ Eva. It's one of the scout units."

She blinked. "Isn't that kind of silly?"

With a humph, he put the letter in his pack- or rather, offered the letter to it, and a thin metal arm reached out and took it inside. Kaworu blinked a few times and looked back at him. He put his chin on his hand and stared into space, not looking at her.

"I thought this was what you wanted."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. My dad is going to be pissed. I don't know if he'll sign off on it."

"Why wouldn't he?"

He looked up, at her. "It's dangerous. I heard the last couple of fights went really badly, and now the Latverians are here."

"You're afraid of them?"

"Aren't you?"

Kaworu shrugged. She wasn't, not particularly. Her father had given her instructions about dealing with them in his last message, but told her she had nothing to fear from them, she was too important.

Kensuke slipped his laptop out of his bag and opened it up. "Look at this."

Kaworu looked; she didn't see anything unusual, except that the website he was trying to open didn't work.

"So?"

"They blocked it," said Kensuke. "They've been blocking all kinds of stuff. I could get around it, but I'm afraid if I did they'd find out and disappear me."

"Disappear you?" said Kaworu.

"You know, take me away and lock me up in a secret base, or worse," he shuddered. "I started reading about them when they first showed up. I found a lot of bad stuff."

* * *

Hikari hadn't been back to Nerv since the argument with Ritsuko. She went in the normal way now, handing her identification card to a bored looking security guard. She was less than shocked to find some Latverians hanging around the terminal for the tram that led down into the base. She was beginning to pick out the markings on their uniforms; the orange and red striped armbands these goons wore marked them as military police. Hikari took her identification back from the guard and looked at the floor as she walked into the car to take the ride down. It was an odd time of day, and without the crowd from a shift change she was alone in the car.

She'd been anticipating and dreading this day for some time. The first scout Eva needed to be tested- she wouldn't be walking around in it or anything. The way Ritsuko explained it, they were basically going to turn it on and make sure it worked. She'd be back at the dorms in a few hours, and working on her homework. She stared at the wall, and sighed. Her whole skin felt itchy, and the freedom of a good swing would scratch it. Those wanted posters, though… maybe Shinji was right, she was taking it too far. Then again, maybe somebody out there would need help tonight, and no one would be there for them. She put it out of her mind as the tram reached the bottom. Yet anther security check, and she was in.

Normally she'd have gone down to the lab and hung out for a while, but today she would follow her strict instructions and report directly to the Eva cages. She let her mind wander as she made her way through the halls, following the signs. They weren't so confusing, once you figured out the color-coding system. She found the locker rooms and headed inside. She had a locker already, and waiting for her, shrink-wrapped, was her plugsuit. She tore the wrapper open and lifted it out. It consisted of a stretchy under layer, like her costume, with some collapsible armor plating over the chest and back, and a helmet that sat on the bench next to it. She blushed when she read the instructions, which made it clear that _nothing_ could be worn under it, and felt embarrassed even in the cold confines of the locker room as she tucked all her clothes in the locker and stepped into the suit. Once her arms were in the sleeves, a switch made it shrink up around her.

When it did, she yelped, understanding the nothing underneath requirement immediately. Without the armor plates, this thing would be positively indecent. It took her a minute to figure out the helmet- it came in two pieces that folded together around her head and locked into a ring around her neck. She looked at herself in the mirror on the far wall, thinking she looked more like a motorcycle rider than a mecha pilot. With everything in place, she walked awkwardly out into the cages, trying not to get a wedgie from the suit.

Ritsuko was there, and she looked immensely tired. She had bags under her eyes and her shoulders sagged, and she grasped the pockets of her lab coat to keep her hands from shaking.

"You ready?" she said, curtly.

"Yeah," said Hikari.

"Look, I-"

"Save it," said Hikari. "Let's get this done."

Ritsuko glared at her, then looked away. "This way."

Hikari followed her. They walked past the main cages, where the Big Three stood. Hikari paled when she saw them- Unit Two wasn't there, and Unit Zero and Unit One were torn up pretty badly. She could see tooth marks in Rei's Eva. She realized she'd slowed down to stare and sped up until she was at Ritsuko's heel.

The Scout Evas had a smaller wing of the cages to themselves, or would when they were finished. There was only one in the cage now, submerged in the foul smelling red liquid that was so strongly associated with the Evas, behind a huge pane of reinforced glass. Hikari and Ritsuko stood at its feet, looking up at it. It was huge on its own, but small by comparison, she knew, roughly a third the size of a full scale Eva. Ritsuko led her up onto a platform, a kind of scaffold that raised and lowered on a big track, and hit a button to bring it up. The Scout Eva swept before them, and Hikari shuddered. Its arms and legs, unarmored, were clearly mechanical, but the middle part of it was made of a weird, kind of puffy white flesh that made her skin crawl to look at it.

The platform came to a stop, and she stepped off. The interface for the smaller unit was different- not so much a plug as a pod, and it folded into the Eva's back rather than sliding into its neck joint. The Eva was hunched forward to accept it, and there was a hollow rumbling sound as the LCL drained out of the cage. The pod itself was resting on a large metal arm, folded open. Hikari lightly hopped into it, turning in the air to bounce into the padded seat, and waited. Ritsuko, still silent, brought down the control panel over he legs, and gestured to the restraints. There was a five-point harness, and a cable thing that locked into the back of her helmet.

The pod was about to close when Shinji came running up, in his plugsuit, sans helmet. Hikari felt her heart flutter a little. His suit fit him as closely as hers did, but he wore it with an easy, familiar confidence. She stared at his legs a little. A lot.

"What are you doing here?"

He smirked at her. "I just wanted to be on hand in case anything crazy happens."

He looked at Ritsuko. "Have you seen Rei?"

"No," said Ritsuko, curtly. "We have to get started. Step back, please."

Hikari sighed, looking away. Ritsuko fiddled with some controls and the plod closed, the lid lowering down over her. She felt a twinge and a little shake as the mechanical arm lifted her up, then a jolt followed by a harsh grinding sound- the pod being seated in the Eva, probably. Stuff started to glow around her.

Ritsuko's voice was in her ear, inside the helmet. "We need to go through the pre-flight checklist before we begin the test. Your Eva is designed for rapid field deployment, so it can be started from inside."

Hikari nodded, and patiently flipped the correct switches and hit the correct buttons, trying to remember them for next time. When she hit the switch marked LCL FL, the reddish gunk started pouring in around her, and quickly filled the small chamber.

"Lay back and think of England."

Hikari snickered in spite of herself, and felt a flutter of unease in her stomach, not quite sure what to expect.

The sensation was sudden, cold, and eerie. It felt like something was crawling on her back, but on the _inside_, and she felt invisible fingers sliding through her hair. She kept her eyes tightly shut, and when she opened them, she could see- the whole front of the pod, which had been dull metal, was now a view of the cage in front of her. The orange-suited techs walking around outside looked like ants.

"Is this some kind of screen?"

"No, the Eva is projecting its feeds directly into your head."

Hikari shuddered. "Okay, so it works, right?"

"Your synch ratio is hovering around twenty-eight percent."

"Is that bad?"

"You could move and fight, not just very well. We have to work on getting it a little higher. Sit back, close your eyes, and try not to sleep."

Great.

* * *

Ritsuko decided to stop by home first. She'd been at the office for over twenty-four hours, and she needed a nap or something. She took the train and walked to her apartment, having left her little car back at the base. Her new place was Spartan by any standard, just a bedroom, kitchen, and a small little living room with a television. All her furniture was rented, an uncoordinated mishmash of whatever she could get delivered on short notice. On her ugly brown couch, Natalie Summers was curled up, watching television. Ritsuko sighed. She was going to have to figure something out.

"Hi," Ritsuko muttered, locking the door behind her.

"Hello," the girl said, sitting up.

Seeing her made Ritsuko shiver. "How are you holding up?"

She looked at the floor. "Okay, I guess."

A pang of guilt stung Ritsuko, matched by the first twinge in her back all day. How would she be holding up? That _thing_ violated her mind, and the next thing she knew she was waking up in a foreign country where everyone hated and mistrusted her on sight, in a world that had changed so radically she had no prayer of understanding it. Ritsuko sat down next to her.

"We have to figure out something to do with you. You can't just lay here all day."

"Like what?"

"You could go to school."

She stared at Ritsuko with wide eyes. "Won't someone recognize me?"

"You can change your appearance," said Ritsuko. "Right?"

"I can, but it's hard."

Ritsuko shrugged. "You don't have to look completely different. Just… a little more color in your skin, and the red eyes has to go."

"Could I have red hair?"

"If you wanted," said Ritsuko, "I don't know if it would help to stick out, though. It would raise a lot of questions."

"Oh," said Natalie. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"You'd have to use another name."

Anger flashed in the girl's eyes. "It's _my_ name."

"I know," said Ritsuko, "but if you walked into the school and used that name, everyone would know who you are. It'd be a bit of a mess, don't you think?"

She sighed. "I suppose. What would I call myself?"

"I don't know, but you have some time to think about it. It'll take me some work to get you in- I'll have to fake all your records. I have to get ready, I have to be somewhere tonight. Tomorrow. Today. Whatever."

"Where?"

Ritsuko put her chin on her hand and sighed. She was so _tired_. "I have to go watch a giant robot."

Natalie stared at her, but she offered no explanation as she got up. A glance at the clock on the kitchen wall told her she had about nine hours before she had to be at the demonstration for "Jet Alone" the dumbest robot name she'd ever heard. She fished out a short tumbler and poured herself two fingers of whiskey, remembered that she'd taken a pill a few hours ago, and then down it anyway in a wincing gulp. The warmth chased some of the ache out of her back, and a shower would help. She bumped her hip on the countertop as she walked out of the kitchen, and cursed. The damned floor was too slippery. Natalie looked at her, chewed her lip a bit, and then went back to watching the television.

Ritsuko headed into the bathroom and slipped out of her clothes, wearily. She turned around and looked in the mirror. The black marks on her back were spreading. They reached as high as her neck, and had curled around her waist like a lover's hands, and went down to the tops of her thighs. She almost thought she saw strands of silver through them, but she had to be imagining that. Looking at her back made it ache, and the heat from the shower did nothing to drive it away. She looked at it again as she toweled off, until her neck was sore from twisting to look at the mirror. She found an old t-shirt and dumped it over her head, then crawled into bed. She lay there for a while, watching the clock, trying to find a spot where she could relax without the pain flaring.

She didn't find one, so she took another pill. Just one. She was going to sleep anyway, what was the harm?

* * *

When Asuka arrived at the dormitory, it was too late to attend any classes, so she went directly inside. She was not delivered by a Nerv car but by a sturdy Latverian APC, which earned her more than her usual share of stares from the students milling around the grounds. She said nothing to any of them, preferring to keep her head down and head directly inside. She felt like the walls were closing in on her as she walked through the hall, and felt weirdly unwelcome even though she was alone.

When she opened the door, Mari pounced on her, pushing her out into the hallway. She gathered Asuka up into a crushing huge, shaking with excitement.

"I smelled you," she said, "I thought I was dreaming. You're okay."

"No, I'm not," Asuka whispered.

Mari pulled back, blinked, then yanked her into the room and bolted the door. "What's wrong? What did they do you?"

"Nothing," Asuka said, sharply. She folded her arms under chest and turned around. "I just…"

Mari moved up behind her, and settled her arms around Asuka's waist. "What?"

"I…" she choked up. She what, she didn't get a pat on the head and a cookie? She was stronger than this. She gently pulled Mari's hands away from her waist and turned around.

"I have to go out for a while. I need some air."

"Okay," Mari said, bouncing on her feet. "Let's go."

"Just me," said Asuka.

Mari wilted, her ears flattening against her head. Asuka gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back, soon."

She left the room, and she started walking, hands thrust in the pockets of her jacket. She walked out of the school, looked around, and saw no security detail shadowing her. She thought about walking through the city, but she wanted somewhere quieter. She used her card to skip the security gates and take a lift down into the Geofront, headed not for the base, but for the open fields on the cavern floor. She brooded in silence on the way down, watching through the windows as solid rock gave way to open space, lit from above in the fading light of the artificial sun gathered up by the mirror arrays. The sight no longer impressed her; it hadn't for years.

When the car came to a stop she stepped out, and walked. The Geofront always smelled like turned earth. She headed towards the lake, for no particular reason other than the distant scent of the waters. The pyramid was there, looming, seeming to move with her like the moon on a clear night. The path was pleasant to walk, lifting and curving in the right places to offer spectacular views. She thought of nothing as she walked, instead watching the flights of birds overhead and the fuzzy gathering of mist under the light from the mirror system. The Geofront, being a sufficiently huge cavern, had its own weather, and sometimes it would rain. The system was monitored, though, so the rains were infrequent, the humidity controlled, an artificial world. A colony on another world might be like this.

Why hadn't man taken to the stars, yet? It seemed the species always turned back to Earth, and when she thought about it, she truly wasn't sure why.

The lake spread out before her, oddly tranquil and glassy. She saw a faint ripple and watched some birds churn along the surface towards a floating piece of bread. Another landed beside it, and she looked up to see Fuyutsuki tossing bread to the birds. He saw her and stood up.

"Forgive me. I'll be on my way."

She stared at him for a second as he started up the path.

"Wait," she said.

He stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Did you know my mother?"

"Yes."

"How?"

He didn't answer her for a time. "Student. Peer. Lover."

Asuka swallowed.

"What you told me before. How did you come upon that?"

"Are you going to inform on me?"

Her lips peeled back in a sneer, and she clenched her fists. "How dare you-"

"Your mother did that when she was angry," he said, "that bit with her lips. You looked just like her, then."

"When she was angry?"

"Oh, yes," he said, looking up at the false sky. "She was at her best when she was angry."

"She was angry with you?"

"Many times, but only one time mattered. If you want the truth, you don't need to hear it from me. It's all around you."

"I don't understand," said Asuka.

"Of course you don't," said Fuyutsuki. "The told you to pilot it, but they never told you how it _works_."

She stared at him as he walked away, jaw working silently.

* * *

"This looks like a good spot," said Toji.

Sakura surveyed their position. She'd been stopping to check the map every few hours, using the electronic compass Kaji had provided to keep their bearings. They hadn't covered much distance at all. It simply hadn't occurred to her how they were going to make it all the way across the continent- she didn't grasp how huge it was until they were there. The map was just an abstraction. She sighed, feeling a deep weariness in her bones. They needed to stop, eat, and rest. Mana was sniffing the air, looking around at the horizon.

"Don't like it. Smells wrong."

"You say everything smells wrong," said Toji, ignoring her as he pulled his bedroll out of his pack.

They found an old building that looked mostly stable, although the half facing the ocean was gone. This used to be a city, Sakura knew, but she wasn't sure which one. Los Angeles was lost to the ocean, and they were still in California, probably. The land had mostly been reclaimed by nature, with the old roads forming uneven paths through the growth. Occasionally they came across a place like this- totally cleaned of debris or any supplies, just the shells of a few old buildings that had lost their names as well as their faces. Toji led them deeper inside, until they were away from the street, and started setting up the compact stove until Sakura stopped him.

"Better eat the rations cold," said Sakura. "We might be watched."

"We are being watched," said Mana.

Maya yawned and spread out her bedroll. She'd been quiet, until they arrived here. She sat down next to it. "I am so fired," she said. "I can't believe I came with you. What am I doing here?"

Sakura started peeling open her ration pack. "You're here for a reason, I'm sure of it."

They ate in silence, Rei most of all. She'd barely spoken since they arrived, sticking close to Toji's side. She ate next to him, sitting on the same bedroll. She hadn't unfurled hers, and Sakura thought about saying something, but didn't, even when they tucked their rations away and slipped into it together. They were the first to fall asleep, Rei's head tucked neatly under Toji's chin. Mana went next, rolled up in a ball under her blanket. Maya and Sakura were still awake, Maya watching the horizon through the ruined front of the building.

"Why did you come with us?" said Sakura.

Maya sighed, and shrugged. "I don't know. I just didn't feel like I fit back there anymore. Everybody treated me different because of… this," she said, flexing her hand. "People stared at me when I went out in public. I couldn't go to the Laundromat any more. I don't know what's worse, the people looking at me like I'm a monster or the guys on the office taking bets on the color of my hair."

"Your hair is green, too," said Sakura.

"Not that hair," Maya said, sullenly.

"Oh, those _pervs,"_ said Sakura. "Is it…"

"Yes. It's green, too."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Right. I have to put up some wards. You should get some sleep."

Maya shrugged and spread out on her bedroll, without covering up with a blanket. Sakura got up and walked the perimeter of their little hiding place, leaving some spells in the walls that would hide their presence. She made them as light as she dared, afraid someone or something would sense it if she used too much power. That done, she returned to her bedroll. By then, everyone was asleep. She wondered if they should take watches, but she would know if someone came into the building. She put her head back on the thin padding of her bedroll, shocked by how heavy she felt.

She was asleep in minutes, and it was deep and dark. When she woke up, it was to the sound of Toji and Rei whispering something she couldn't hear. Mana woke up a few minutes later, sprung out of her bedroll, and announced, "Gotta take a piss," and walked out of sight.

She was back a few moments later. They ate lightly, packed up their things, and headed outside.

It was then they discovered that they were surrounded.

* * *

_Note_

_I know I said updates would be more or less weekly... and then nothing for two weeks. I've been (and still am) in the process of moving into a new office, which I didn't know about and didn't account for when I decided when I would start updating again. The good news is that while I'm still working in it, further updates really should be more weekly than less weekly. _


End file.
